1. SUMMARY
The Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs and Security Policy leads the Political Affairs and Security Policy Division. Within the NATO International Staff, the Assistant Secretary General (ASG) is responsible for advising on the political aspects of NATO's core tasks and for the policy development of NATO’s partnerships. The Assistant Secretary General (ASG) reports to the Secretary General through the Chief of Staff, and advises them on Political Affairs and Security Policy issues.
PASP’s broad portfolio is covering the following principal matters:
• General political affairs within NATO;
• Building relationships with:
o partners in Eastern and South Eastern Europe, including Ukraine;
o international organisations and institutions, in particular with the European Union, the United Nations, and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe;
o other Partnership for Peace countries;
o Mediterranean Dialogue and Istanbul Cooperation Initiative partners from the Middle East and North Africa;
o Partners across the globe – which includes Australia, Japan, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Mongolia, and Colombia;
• NATO’s Open Door Policy;
• NATO’s policy with regard to Russia;
• Arms Control, disarmament, and non-proliferation policy
• NATO's work on both Women, Peace and Security (WPS) and Human Security (HS)
The ASG manages a Division of approximately 100 staff members, including staff members deployed in NATO’s Liaison Offices abroad and is supported by two Deputy Assistant Secretaries General and the Secretary General’s Special Representative for Women, Peace and Security and Human Security.
There are six ASGs, all of whom report to the NATO Secretary General, through the Chief of Staff, and are also accountable to the North Atlantic Council. As a member of the Organization’s senior management, each ASG is also expected to collaborate across the International Staff and beyond, and to contribute to overall policy development and delivery, including in areas beyond their direct set of responsibilities.
2. QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE
ESSENTIAL
The candidate must:
• have a university degree or equivalent level of qualification in a field relevant for this position;
• have a strong background developed through at least 15 years of experience in political affairs, international relations and security policy;
• have significant people management experience (10 years+) and the capacity to lead, motivate and engage a diverse multidisciplinary team;
• have experience working in a multilateral environment or an environment with a variety of stakeholders from multi-cultural backgrounds, including the military, industry, science or technology communities;
• have a proven track record of recent experience in progressively senior-level leadership positions;
• have experience facilitating high-level dialogue and consensus;
• have a proven track record of successfully developing key relationships with NATO partner countries, in both bilateral and multinational settings;
• have a proven track record of creating a high-level vision and directing organisations to develop and implement the necessary policies;
• be an innovative, strategic, conceptual thinker and be able to design and use complex influencing strategies to fulfil the required objectives;
• possess the following minimum levels of NATO’s official languages (English/French)\: VI (“Proficiency”) in one; I (“Beginner”) in the other.
DESIRABLE
The following would be considered an advantage:
• a higher level of proficiency in NATO’s other official language (English/French).
3. ACCOUNTABILITIES
The ASG/PASP is responsible for managing and directing Political Affairs and Security Policy activities at NATO under the direction of the Secretary General and, on his behalf, the Office of the Secretary General.
The Assistant Secretary General chairs and co-chairs high-level committees composed of NATO Nations and partners. These committees include the Deputy Permanent Representatives Committee, the Partnerships and Cooperative Security Committee, and Arms Control, Disarmament, and Non-Proliferation related Committees. ASG PASP will be called upon to represent the Secretary General at high-level meetings and will speak in public fora on behalf of the Secretary General.
In their role as manager of the Division, the incumbent will lead and oversee a team of international staff and management. More specifically, they will aim to achieve the following objectives:
• Vision and Direction\: Develop, communicate and implement a vision to face the future challenges of the Alliance. Support the team around common objectives, ensuring that vision guides its mid and long-term programme of work. Act as a role model of inclusive leadership and promote resilience, flexibility and innovation.
• People Management\: Lead and oversee a large team of international staff, promoting integrity, professionalism and accountability through a sound and inclusive leadership culture, and ensuring the proper management and coherent tasking of human resources.
o Talent development\: Adhere to sound management principles with staff, and provide in-depth mentoring, coaching and training opportunities; be available for guidance at critical moments; ensure that all Divisional staff are clear on Organizational and Divisional objectives; provide regular and fair feedback on performance, informally as appropriate and via the performance management system.
o Performance Management\: Participate in a collegial review of performance at divisional level to discuss possible development and mobility opportunities for individuals, identify high potentials and help ensure common standards are applied in the process across the Organization; make contract renewal or conversion recommendations with the best interests of the Organization in mind.
o Continual Improvement culture\: Serve on internal strategy, policy, and coordination boards, as required. Actively contribute to the improvement of the Organizational policies and processes; Participate in leadership learning and development Programmes, related to the successful execution of her/his duties.
4. COMPETENCIES
Candidates must demonstrate the following competencies:
• Achievement\: Demonstrates decisiveness based on solid considerations and trade-offs.
• Change Leadership\: Champions change.
• Conceptual Thinking\: Creates new concepts.
• Developing Others\: Provides in-depth mentoring, coaching and training.
• Impact and Influence\: Uses complex influence strategies.
• Initiative\: Plans and acts for the long term.
• Leadership\: Communicates a compelling vision.
• Organizational Awareness\: Understands underlying issues.
• Self-Control\: Stays composed and positive even under extreme pressure.
5. KEY CHALLENGES
Key challenges facing the successful candidate for ASG, PASP during the next 3 years will likely include:
• Managing and supporting political consultations among Allies and the International Staff’s interactions with Allied nations;
• Developing policy advice on NATO’s cooperative security tasks, including engagement with partner nations and international organisations as well as interlocutors across the globe, as well as responding to adversaries and strategic competitors;
• Overseeing and further developing relationships with partner countries and international organisations; and
• Leading, managing and integrating a diverse team dealing with complex political issues.
Candidates are asked, as part of this application, to attach one MS Word document, summarising their views on these key (and possible other) challenges and how they would address them if selected for the position. This essay, which should be no more than 2 A4 pages long, will be evaluated as part of the longlisting assessment.
6. CONTRACT
The successful applicant will be employed for an initial period of 3 years. Exceptionally, there may be possibility of a one-year extension thereafter.
7. RECRUITMENT PROCESS\:
Please note that we can only accept applications from nationals of NATO member countries.
Applications must be submitted using e-recruitment system, as applicable:
• For NATO civilian staff members only\: please apply via the internal recruitment portal (for more information, please contact your local Civilian HR Manager);
• For all other applications\: www.nato.int/recruitment
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Selection of candidates for NATO posts is based upon the merit principle.
Shortlisted candidates will have to be available for the selection process which is expected to take place in the second half of March, in Brussels, Belgium.
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Please also note that at the time of the interviews, candidates will be asked to provide evidence of their education and professional experience as relevant for this vacancy.
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More information about the recruitment process and conditions of employment, can be found at our website (http\://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/recruit-hq-e.htm)
Appointment will be subject to receipt of a security clearance (provided by the national Authorities of the selected candidate), approval of the candidate’s medical file by the NATO Medical Adviser, verification of your study(ies) and work experience, and the successful completion of the accreditation and notification process by the relevant authorities.
NATO will not accept any phase of the recruitment and selection prepared, in whole or in part, by means of generative artificial-intelligence (AI) tools, including and without limitation to chatbots, such as Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer (Chat GPT), or other language generating tools. NATO reserves the right to screen applications to identify the use of such tools. All applications prepared, in whole or in part, by means of such generative or creative AI applications may be rejected without further consideration at NATO’s sole discretion, and NATO reserves the right to take further steps in such cases as appropriate.
8. INFORMATIONS COMPLÉMENTAIRES
https\://www.nato.int/structur/recruit/2025/encoding-vacancies.pdf
