Linux Engineer

Spektrum supports apex purchasers (NATO, UN, EU, and National Government and Defence) and their Tier 1 supplier ecosystem with a wide range of specialist services. We provide our clients with professional services, specialised aerospace and defence sales, delivery, and operational subject matter expertise. We are looking for personnel to join our team and support key client projects.

Who we are supporting

The NATO Communication and Information Agency (NCIA) is responsible for providing secure and effective communications and information technology (IT) services to NATO’s member countries and its partners. The agency was established in 2012 and is headquartered in Brussels, Belgium.

The NCIA provides a wide range of services, including:

• Cyber Security: The NCIA provides advanced cybersecurity solutions to protect NATO’s communication networks and information systems against cyber threats.
• Command and Control Systems: The NCIA develops and maintains the systems used by NATO’s military commanders to plan and execute operations.
• Satellite Communications: The NCIA provides satellite communications services to enable secure and reliable communications between NATO forces.
• Electronic Warfare: The NCIA provides electronic warfare services to support NATO’s mission to detect, deny, and defeat threats to its communication networks.
• Information Management: The NCIA manages NATO’s information technology infrastructure, including its databases, applications, and servers.

Overall, the NCIA plays a critical role in ensuring the security and effectiveness of NATO’s communication and information technology capabilities.

The program

Assistance and Advisory Service (AAS)

The NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCI Agency) is NATO’s principal C3 capability deliverer and CIS service provider. It provides, maintains and defends the NATO enterprise-wide information technology infrastructure to enable Allies to consult together under Article IV, and, when required, stand together in the face of attack under Article V.

To provide these critical services, in the modern evolving dynamic environment the NCI Agency needs to build and maintain high performance-engaged workforce. The NCI Agency workforce strategically consists of three major categorise’s: NATO International Civilians (NIC)’s, Military (Mil), and Interim Workforce Consultants (IWC)’s. The IWCs are a critical part of the overall NCI Agency workforce and make up approximately 15 percent of the total workforce.

Role Duties and Responsibilities

As Linux Engineer, the incumbent will be responsible for installing and monitor Unix/Linux open-source operating systems and specific apps according to NCIRC NCSC. The Linux Engineer will be responsible also for resolving user issues, address change management requests, and identifies potential issues by implementing protective and security measures.

The Linux Engineer reports to the Head, Platform Infrastructure Management Section to support underlying platforms and supporting engineers within Infrastructure Branch Main responsibilities include, but are not limited to the following:

• Perform scheduled checks of the NCSC enterprise Linux environments, including health checks and auditing of system logs as needed to ensure the performance and availability of NCSC Services are meeting established service levels on the Linux environment;
• Improve environments with IaC (Infrastructure as Code) with existing and suggested tools;
• Support the Engineering team on the software deployment;
• Share knowledge and support communication with all engineering teams
• Daily work on SSH, Ansible, GIT, Packaging, Python, BASH scripts to operate the NCSC physical and virtual environments (deploy, consolidate, migrate);
• Ability to troubleshoot system issues, analyse log files, and
• perform performance tuning on Linux servers.
• Performs other duties as may be required;

Essential Skills and Experience

• Experience with Linux server administration, including installation, packaging, configuration, and maintenance of servers especially on RHEL and Ubuntu;
• Software engineering skills including programming and/or scripting knowledge, Python, Bash/Shell scripting;
• Strong experience with configuration management tools like Ansible for managing infrastructure as code.
• Strong understanding of Red Hat Satellite or similar application;
• Familiarity with virtualization technologies such as Docker, Kubernetes, and virtual machines (VMs).
• Proven ability to understand and design how different system layers (Application, Container, Network and Infra) work together and interact;

Desirable Skills and Experience

• Prior experience with information security standards and practices;
• Red Hat Certified Engineer (RCHA) preferred or similar;
• Understanding of security best practices and experience in implementing security measures on Linux systems (e.g., firewalls, encryption, access control).
• Prior experience of working in an international environment comprising both military and civilian elements;
• Supporting the DevOps approach in large organization;
• Continuous learning and staying updated with the latest trends and technologies in the Linux ecosystem;

Specific Working Conditions

• Normal office environment with standard working hours, Out of hours working will be required to support established maintenance activities
• Exceptionally they may be contacted during out-of-hours periods to support delivery of critical services

Working Location

• Mons, Belgium

Working Policy

• On-Site

Travel

• Some travel to other NATO sites may be required

Contract Duration

• Jul 2024 – Dec 2024

Security Clearance

• Valid National or NATO Top Secret personal security clearance