Executive Assistant to the Legal Advisor

NATO offers you more than a job. It gives you a mission: building peace and security for one billion people in Europe and North America. The NATO Communications & Information Agency is leading NATO’s Digital Transformation. Based in Brussels, Belgium the Executive Assistant will directly support the Legal Advisor of NCI Agency and her wider team of Lawyers and Legal Professionals.

Who we are:

The NCI Agency acquire, deploy and defend communications systems for NATO’s political decision-makers and Commands; the agency is on the frontlines against cyber-attacks, working closely with governments and industry to help NATO keep its technological edge.

We are NATO’s technology and cyber leaders, helping NATO Nations to communicate and work together in smarter ways. Our work is challenging and meaningful, and you will lead and apply your expertise as part of a dynamic international team of civilian and military professionals.

The role:

The Executive Assistant will work within T he Office of the Legal Advisor (LEGAD) who are responsible for identifying legal risks and advising on mitigation strategies across the entire organization. The team work closely with many internal and external stakeholders including business operations, HR, Acquisition, the NATO Enterprise, military commands, and individual NATO nations. Lawyers in this office balance priorities across multiple portfolios ranging from contractual advice to employment litigation, cyber defence and operations advice. The Executive Assistant will enable the efficient operation and management of the administrative aspects of LEGAD .

This role is suitable for a highly motivated and dynamic administrative professional with superior communication skills who has experience working within legal departments or offices with similar rhythms and workflows. Reporting directly to the Legal Advisor the Executive Assistant will be responsible for:

Team Coordination:

• Act as a first point of contact to the LEGAD, managing a wide range of Executive and Legal Office administration issues with the upmost integrity, diplomacy and tact
• Ensure smooth and pro-active communications between all members of the legal office to ensure information is shared efficiently
• Budget, office expenses, space and equipment organisation
  

Diary and Travel Oversight:

• Execution of diary management activity, prioritising, coordinating and scheduling diary commitments and day-to-day business, delivering an efficient and effective administration service to the LEGAD
• Administer all travel and planning arrangements for the LEGAD including system requests and expenses and o rganize office hospitality as required
  

Document Management:

• Prepare documents required for LEGAD meetings and visits
• Draft memoranda and letters to internal and external stakeholders
• Provide administrative support to lawyers, in collaboration with other support staff
• Develop corporate documents in Word, Excel, PowerPoint
• Prepare and provide input to corporate process documents (PowerPoint, Word, Excel)
• Participate in ongoing filing and IKM activities
• Maintain and improve the Legal Office Administrative Handbook
  

Supporting the success of the team:

• Train Legal Office staff on corporate process and administrative processes, and required tools
• Continuously improve and standardise office procedures and actively contribute to existing organisational structure and procedures to maximise use of resources and encourage innovation;
• Organize and support team onsite and offsite activities
• Organise on-boarding and off-boarding of staff
  

For a full list of duties, you can review the full job description here, which is accessible via the NCI Agency careers page.

About you:

You will easily establish good relationships with key stakeholders and be able to relate to people at all levels of the NATO organisation. You produce new ideas, approaches and insights to deliver innovative solutions and are able to adapt to changing circumstances you can manage ambiguity, accept new ideas and change initiatives, further to this you have:

• Demonstrated superior communication skills to achieve smooth and timely office administration
• Demonstrated agility in supporting staff in an environment with staff rotation and organizational changes
• Demonstrable experience of working in Secretarial or Administrative posts at Executive or Board level;
• Experience and ability to provide leadership guidance and direction to Executive Assistants across the Agency
• Excellent command of spoken and written English, with a proven ability to communicate effectively orally and in writing
• Proven experience in using effective communication skills to ensure smooth office operations
• Significant experience and agility in using the Microsoft Office suite (especially Word, PowerPoint, Excel) to prepare documents and data infographics typically required in a legal office
• In-depth working knowledge of SharePoint and/or Document Management Systems;
• Very good knowledge of filing and archiving best practices
• Superior skills in drafting clear and concise letters and email correspondence
• Experience in budget processes
• Experience with document search
• Ideally have experience in similar roles supporting General Counsel / Legal Director
• Ideally have prior experience in a fast-paced legal office conducting document search and some legal research
  

What do we offer?

• Genuinely meaningful work as part of the most successful alliance in history
• Initial three year contract with competitive monthly tax-free salary of 4,990 EUR and household & children’s allowances
• Privileges for expatriate staff including expatriation and education allowances (where appropriate) and additional home leave
• Excellent private health insurance scheme
• Generous annual leave of 30 days plus official holidays
• Retirement Pension Plan
  

To learn more about NCI Agency, our mission and goals take a few moments to visit our website .

Please note that ALL SELECTED CANDIDATES, with the exception of currently employed NATO International Civilians (NIC’s) will be appointed at the first Increment of the indicated NATO Grade, i.e. NATO Grade X, Increment 1.This is the salary referred to in this vacancy notice.

Selected candidates who are not nationals of the host country and who have not been continuously resident in the host country for at least one year may be eligible for an expatriate allowance. For the purposes of determining continuous residence, NATO considers mainly the work location at the time recruitment started, independent of whether various ties were kept with the home country. For more information on our allowances click here .

All selected candidates are required to complete a Security Clearance, Medical Clearanceand Pre-employment Screeningprocess before joining the NCI Agency. This process will require time, so please keep in mind that you will not be able to start working with us right away

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