Support For Project Management

Summary

Join the NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCI Agency) as a Support for Project Management, contributing to the modernization of NATO's IT services through cloud migration projects. This off-site role, with occasional travel, involves supporting senior project managers in various aspects of project management, including resource planning, data management, risk tracking, meeting coordination, and procurement support. The position requires strong organizational, communication, and problem-solving skills, along with experience in project administration and familiarity with cloud technologies. The contract has a base period and several optional extension years, with payment milestones tied to sprint completion and acceptance criteria. A NATO SECRET security clearance is required.

Requirements

• Basic understanding of project management principles, methodologies, and tools
• Familiarity with project management software such as ServiceNow, Microsoft Project, or similar tools to track resources, schedules, and milestones
• Understanding of project life cycles and the ability to assist in the planning and execution of projects from initiation to completion
• Strong attention to detail with the ability to manage multiple tasks simultaneously
• Proven ability to maintain and update project schedules, resource allocations, and documentation
• Capacity to handle and prioritize competing demands in a fast-paced environment
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills to effectively collaborate with team members, stakeholders, and senior project managers
• Ability to prepare and distribute meeting agendas and minutes, ensuring clarity and accuracy in communication
• Strong interpersonal skills for coordinating with different teams and stakeholders and ensuring timely follow-ups
• Proven ability to work collaboratively within a team, ensuring smooth coordination of project activities
• Willingness to support technical leads and other teams to ensure project success and resolve project-related issues
• Eagerness to learn and grow in project management, with a proactive approach to personal development and skill enhancement
• Adaptability to changing project requirements and an evolving work environment
• Advanced proficiency in using standard office software including Microsoft PowerPoint, Word and Excel
• The candidate has strong customer relationship skills, including negotiating complex and sensitive situations under pressure
• Full proficiency in the English language
• The candidate must have the nationality of one of the NATO nations
• NATO SECRET security clearance

Responsibilities

• Assist the senior project managers in resource planning activities, ensuring that the required personnel and resources are available for project tasks
• Maintain and update project resources and project schedule using project management tools (e.g., ServiceNow)
• Coordinate the allocation of resources with resource managers
• Monitor project milestones and ensure tasks are completed on time
• Maintain project data repositories, ensuring that all project-related documents, reports, and communications are organized, up-to-date, and accessible to the project team
• Assist in the creation of knowledge management materials to support project deliverables
• Ensure that documentation and reports are stored in accordance with the organization’s guidelines and best practices for data governance
• Support the senior project manager by keeping track of project issue and risk registers
• Ensure that all project-related records are accurate, complete, and aligned with organizational standards
• Organize and coordinate project meetings, including setting up virtual or physical meetings, sending out invitations, and preparing meeting agendas
• Take detailed and accurate notes during meetings, capturing key points, decisions, and action items
• Distribute meeting minutes to stakeholders and ensure that follow-ups on action items are timely
• Assist senior project managers with project procurement activities, including initiating procurement requests, follow-up on procurement activities, creating receipts
• Keep track of procurement-related communications and documentations
• Collaborate with Cloud Operations Centre, Project Managers, Technical Leads, and other relevant teams to ensure cohesive project management activities
• Communicate effectively with stakeholders to understand project management requirements and address concerns
• The contractor will be part of the project management team. Close coordination of all activities with the NCI Agency Project Manager (PM) as well as strict adherence to agreed timelines is mandatory
• Conduct a monthly meeting with the contractor to plan the objectives of upcoming sprints and review contractor`s manpower to meet the agreed deliverables
• Define clear, achievable goals for the sprint and associated acceptance criteria, including specific delivery targets, Quality standards as well as Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for each task to be recorded in the sprint meeting minutes
• Agree on the required level of effort for the various sprint tasks
• Review and prioritise the backlog of tasks, issues, and improvements from previous sprints
• Assess each payment milestone cycle duration of one calendar month. State of completion and validation of each sprint status and sign off sprints to be submitted for payment as covered in Section 4
• Contractor to execute the agreed “sprint plans” with continuous monitoring and adjustments
• Regular meetings between NCIA and the contractor to review sprint progress, address issues, and make necessary adjustments to the processes or production methodology. The Meetings will be physically in the office, or in person via electronic means using Conference Call capabilities, according to the NCI Agency staff instructions
• Contractor to establish a continuous feedback loop to gather input from all stakeholders for ongoing improvements and their subsequent implementation depending on NCIA approval
• Contractor to use a shared dashboard or tool to track the status of the sprint deliveries and any issues
• Contractor shall ensure that the quality standards agreed for the sprint deliverables are maintained throughout the sprint
• NCIA to perform the Final Quality Control of the agreed deliverables and provide feedback on any issues
• At the end of each sprint, there will be a meeting between the NCI Agency and the Contractor to review the outcomes against the acceptance criteria comprising sprint goals, agreed quality criteria and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
• Define specific actions to address issues and enhance the next sprint
• For each sprint to be considered as complete and payable, the contractor must report the outcome of their work during the sprint, first verbally during the retrospective sprint review meeting and then in writing within three days after the sprint’s end date. A report must be sent by email to the NCI Agency manager, highlighting all work performed against the agreed tasking list set for the sprint
• Complete the activities/tasks agreed in each sprint meeting as per sections 2 and 3 above
• Produce sprint completion reports (format: e-mail update) or the formal documentation required per specific task
• The Contractor will participate in the daily reporting and planning activities (daily stand-ups) as well as the required participation in workshops, events and conferences related to the supported services, as requested by the Project Manager
• The contractor shall report to the Project Manager
• The contractor shall participate in daily status update meetings, activity planning and other meetings as instructed, via electronic means using Conference Call capabilities, according to the Project Managers instructions
• For each sprint to be considered as complete and payable, the contractor must report the outcome of his/her work during the sprint, first verbally during the retrospective meeting and then in written within three (3) days after the sprint’s end date. The format of this report shall be a short email to the NCIA Point of Contact mentioning briefly the work held and the development achievements during the sprint

Preferred Qualifications

• Familiarity with cloud-based platforms (e.g., Microsoft 365) and project management tools (e.g., ServiceNow, Jira)
• French language proficiency

Benefits

• Off-Site Discount: 5% (this discount is applicable to all requirements, and applies when the assigned personnel are permitted to work Off-Site, such as at- home)
• Payment upon completion of each fourth sprint and at the end of the work