Location: NCIA, Brussels, Belgium
Requirements Description:
The objective of this engagement is to provide strategic and executional project management expertise to deliver complex cloud migration, integration, and governance initiatives. The Cloud Project Manager will operate in alignment with NATO’s enterprise architectures, technology strategies, and NECOM principles, ensuring successful delivery of projects within time, cost, scope, and quality constraints while managing diverse stakeholder expectations.
Under the direction / guidance of the NCIA Point of Contact or delegated staff, the contractor shall provide services related to:
Project Management
- Define, plan, and execute large-scale cloud transformation and service implementation projects.
- Monitor scope, schedule, budget, and quality across all project phases.
- Develop and maintain project documentation, including PID, Gantt charts, RAID logs, and reporting dashboards.
- Apply both Agile and Waterfall methodologies based on project needs.
- Ensure project deliverables are accepted per agreed criteria and change requests are appropriately managed.
Stakeholder Management
- Develop stakeholder management strategies and stakeholder registers.
- Engage with senior stakeholders including CDT, CTO, programme managers, and SMEs across the NATO Enterprise.
- Facilitate communication and alignment across technical and business stakeholders in multinational contexts.
Cloud Program Governance
- Align project activities with NECOM principles and enterprise-wide cloud governance models.
- Support development of governance artefacts such as RACI matrices, ToRs, risk registers, and control frameworks.
- Collaborate with the CSB function, cloud architects, and compliance leads to ensure programmatic coherence.
Change and Risk Management
- Maintain and update project risk registers and mitigation plans.
- Lead change control procedures and impact assessments of scope, schedule, and resourcing variations.
Contract & Vendor Coordination
- Coordinate with contract officers and vendors for service delivery in accordance with contractual obligations.
- Monitor KPIs, SLAs, and vendor performance metrics.
Reporting & Reviews
- Provide weekly and sprint-based progress updates.
- Participate in monthly sprint reviews, retrospectives, and continuous improvement efforts.
- Submit delivery reports and update relevant documentation repositories.
The contractor will be part of a team and will provide services using an Agile and iterative approach during multiple sprints. Each sprint is planned for a duration of 1 week. The content and scope of each sprint will be agreed during the sprint-planning meeting, in writing, based on the activities mentioned above.
Due to the AGILE approach of this project, there is a need to define a set of specific arrangements between the NCI Agency and the contractor that specifically defines the deliverables to be provided for each sprint as well as their associated acceptance criteria. This includes sprint planning, execution and review processes, which are detailed below:
- Sprint Planning:
- Objective: Plan the objectives for the upcoming sprint
- Kick-off meeting: Conduct a monthly meeting with the contractor to plan the objectives of upcoming sprints and review contractor`s manpower to meet the agreed deliverables.
- Set sprint goals: 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.
- Backlog Review: 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.
- Sprint Execution
- Objective: 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.
- Continuous improvement: Contractor to establish a continuous feedback loop to gather input from all stakeholders for ongoing improvements and their subsequent implementation depending on NCIA approval.
- Progress Tracking: Contractor to use a shared dashboard or tool to track the status of the sprint deliveries and any issues.
- Quality Assurance/Quality Check: Contractor shall ensure that the quality standards agreed for the sprint deliverables are maintained throughout the sprint.
- Quality Control: NCIA to perform the Final Quality Control of the agreed deliverables and provide feedback on any issues.
- Sprint Review
- Objective: Review the sprint performance and identify areas for improvement.
- 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.
- Sprint Payment
- 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.
- The contractor’s payment for each sprint will be depending upon the achievement of agreed Acceptance Criteria for each task, defined at the sprint planning stage. This will include specific delivery targets, quality standards as well as Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for each task.
- The payment shall be dependent upon successful acceptance as set in the above planning/review meetings. This will follow the payment milestones that shall include a completed Delivery Acceptance Sheet (DAS).
- Invoices shall be accompanied with a Delivery Acceptance Sheet (DAS) signed by the Contractor and project authority.
- If the contractor fails to meet the agreed Acceptance criteria for any task, the NCI Agency reserves the right to withhold payment for that task/sprint.
Each sprint has a duration of one week. The content and scope of each sprint will be agreed during the sprint‐planning meetings as covered in this section.
Skill, Knowledge & Experience:
The support for this work requires a resource with the following qualifications:
- Minimum 8 years’ experience in project management of complex ICT/cloud initiatives.
- Proven success in managing multi-region cloud transformation programmes.
- Strong knowledge of cloud services (AWS, Azure, GCP) and deployment models.
- Certified PMP/PRINCE2/Scrum Master or AgilePM.
- Cloud certification (e.g., AWS Solutions Architect, Azure Admin).
- Experience working in multinational or defense environments.
- Security Clearance: NATO SECRET
- The Contractor can anticipate and proactively mitigate potential strategic and operational challenges.
- The Contractor has excellent communication and presentation skills, with the capacity to convey complex information clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.
- The Contractor has a collaborative mind-set and a proven ability to work effectively alongside strategic leads and other stakeholders in a multidisciplinary team environment.
- The Contractor has expertise in programme delivery methodologies and relevant experience in delivering programmes within a broader portfolio context.
- The Contractor can speak and write fluent English since the work is conducted in English.
- The Contractor must have the nationality of one of the NATO nations.