Head, Business Relationship Management

1.SUMMARY

Within the Executive Management (EM) Division, the Information, Communication and Technology Management (ICTM) Directorate is responsible for enabling the implementation and support of quality ICT systems and Services at NATO Headquarters (NATO HQ).

The Business Relationship Management (BRM) Section ensures that business requests for ICT services and applications requirements are analysed and validated to be delivered according to agreed standards with suppliers or according to business requirements agreed in the projects.

The Head, Business Relationship Management (BRM) Section, supervises 4 Units: Customer Support, Business Analysis, ICTM Budget Management, and NATO-Wide Personnel Management Information System (NW-PMIS). S/he monitors/reports on the end-to-end delivery of technology solutions to the business and manages the relationship between the IT organisation and the business. S/he manages the portfolio of ICTM projects and partners with the business and establishes a governance system that allows for effective management of projects priorities, and analyses the total impact on the organisation when making or facilitating decisions. Additionally, s/he provides guidance to the business around vendors and technical trends. The Head considers business goals and requirements, and aligns solutions with the overall business and technology strategy when scoping and planning a project/program. S/he leads the negotiations of the Service Level Agreement (SLA) with the main ICT services provider, the NATO Communication and Information Agency (NCIA).

2.QUALIFICATIONSANDEXPERIENCE

ESSENTIAL

The incumbent must:

• have a university degree, or an equivalent level of qualification, in Information Technology, Engineering or in a similar technology oriented area;
• have 8 years of experience in ICT and related management experience in multiple business and technological areas;
• have experience in the management of a portfolio of projects and in the governance of ICT initiatives;
• demonstrate an understanding of project management methodologies and tools;
• have strong knowledge of applicable business areas, the supporting technology architecture, and applicable processes;
• demonstrate strong knowledge of relevant applications and development life cycles;
• have general knowledge of professional services vendors, and outsourcing business models and tools;
• have knowledge of outsourcing methodologies and operating models, and working with external Service Providers;
• have experience in negotiating complex contracts and Service Level Agreements (SLAs);
• have proven organisational and administrative skills;
• have experience overseeing geographically distributed and culturally diverse work-groups;
• demonstrated understanding of Public Sector procurement and budgeting practices;
• possess the following minimum levels of NATO’s official languages (English/French): V (‘Advanced’) in one, IV (Advanced Intermediate) in the other.

DESIRABLE

The following would be considered an advantage:

• business Analyst professional certification;
• high-level understanding of the technical architecture of IT systems and technologies, the network components, and how data flows through IT systems;
• projects Portfolio Management professional certification;
• professional experience in International Organisations;
• an advanced level in both NATO Official languages.

3.MAINACCOUNTABILITIES

People Management

Lead, plan, direct and supervise the work of the Section. Cultivate a motivating, inclusive and effective workplace. Provide mentoring, coaching and training opportunities and be available to offer guidance at critical moments. Promote transparency in decision-making, equal access to opportunities for all staff and an inclusive management culture. Ensure that all staff under her/his responsibility is clear on organizational, divisional, directorate and section objectives. Provide regular and fair feedback on performance, informally as appropriate, and via the HQ Performance Review and Development (PRD) system. Participate in recruitment procedures for vacant posts in the Section, in accordance with NATO recruitment guidelines. Identify possible development and mobility opportunities for individuals.

Planning and Execution

Provide business requirements and high level technical requirements to project teams for implementation. Serve as the primary communication channel to the business regarding the set of applications/technologies under responsibility. Work with business and technology teams to ensure that the business needs are clearly understood and the technology implemented meets the needs and expectations of the business. Work with the business leadership to analyse the cost/benefit/risk of a proposed architecture/technology. Ensure that proposed architecture/technology is aligned with business/technology strategy. Facilitate issue resolution and clearly communicate cross-organization decisions, standards, and discussions to relevant parties.

Project Management

Manage the Portfolio of Projects and anticipate risks and issues, and take appropriate action to mitigate/resolve them. Ensure that contingency and/or business continuity technology services are compliant with technology policies and other regulatory requirements.

Organisational Efficiencies

Analyse emerging technologies and work with business and IT management to translate implications of the new trends into recommendations for an effective technology vision and strategy. Generate ideas for new/improved business and technology functions/initiatives. Contribute to continuous improvement by leveraging quality improvement methodologies (BPMN, P3O, PRINCE2, etc.). Provide expert knowledge to enforce ICTM role as ICT “Intelligent Customer” in its relationship with the NCIA.

Stakeholder Management

Serve as the point of contact to business partners for new initiative assessment. Conduct frequent and formal meetings with key business partners to review/discuss overall technology performance for the specific functional areas under responsibility. Continually improve working relationship with the business and other senior IT management. Work with business partners to communicate overall technology capacity related to business priorities for the specific business services/processes under her/his responsibility. Partner with technology teams to engage business partners and vendors in developing technology. Participate in and support cross-technology process improvement initiatives. Manage the vendor relationship at the business level. Manage/update Service Level Agreements (SLA’s) and other related service agreements. Work with clients and other members of the International Staff (IS).

Expertise Development

Develop relevant expertise and attend training as appropriate. Share expertise when possible and advice others on best practices. Attend exhibitions, seminars and other appropriate technical demonstrations and recommend technologies of interest for further feasibility studies.

Knowledge Management

Promote the use of knowledge management processes and tools. Share/leverage successful products, processes and best practices across technology. Drive initiatives to proactively support knowledge sharing within the technology, business and organization-wide leadership teams.

Build up knowledge of how the IS Divisions function and what are their technology needs.

Information Management

Identify ways to share resources across business services to promote information sharing and processes optimization. Identify and develop technical support resources to provide production support, resolve issues, develop systems software and staff relevant projects. Refine and enhance tactical methodologies and/or standards; Develop guidelines, standards, policies and procedures and disseminate to technology teams. Ensure that business analyses are conducted within budget. Participate in vendor contract negotiations as needed together with the other ICTM sections/teams during project implementation.

Financial Management

Supervise the coordination and timely preparation, execution and reporting of the ICTM annual budget as well as of the procurement activities of the Directorate, in compliance with the NATO Financial Regulations and Financial Rules and Procedures.

Perform any other related duty as assigned.

4.INTERRELATIONSHIPS

The incumbent reports to the Director ICTM. S/he works closely with all section Heads in ICTM and with the Communications and Information Systems (CIS) Support Unit (CSU) Brussels Section of NCIA. S/he will deal with NATO International staff at all levels as well as with external experts, suppliers and vendors.

Direct reports: 7

Indirect reports: 2.

5. COMPETENCIES

The incumbent must demonstrate:

• Achievement: Creates own measures of excellence and improves performance;
• Analytical Thinking: Sees multiple relationships;
• Clarity and Accuracy: Monitors others’ work for clarity;
• Conceptual Thinking: Applies learned concepts;
• Customer Service Orientation: Makes things better for the customer, addressing underlying customer needs;
• Impact and Influence: Uses indirect influence;
• Initiative: Is decisive in a time-sensitive situation;
• Teamwork: Solicits inputs and encourages others.