Security Accreditation Lead

About this role

Join the NATO IT Modernization (NITM) Programme and support the delivery of secure, next-generation private cloud capabilities within NATO-secured environments. The Security Accreditation Lead provides programme-level leadership for security accreditation activities across the design, development, integration, testing, implementation, and acceptance of the NITM solution.

The position leads the development and coordination of programme inputs to NCIA's Security Accreditation Documentation Sets (SADS) and associated technical evidence. Working closely with Chief Engineers, the Scrum Master, cybersecurity personnel, functional leads, and test teams, the Senior Security Accreditation Lead translates accreditation requirements into planned engineering activities and ensures required inputs are complete, traceable, and delivered in accordance with NATO and NCIA requirements.

The role serves as the primary programme interface with the NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCIA) Security Accreditation Lead and supporting customer security stakeholders. Leidos is responsible for developing and providing programme accreditation inputs and evidence, while NCIA retains responsibility and authority for formal accreditation. The position also coordinates with programme planners and schedulers to align accreditation activities, dependencies, reviews, and customer milestones with the Integrated Master Schedule (IMS).

The position will be onsite at the Customer Site in The Hague, Netherlands for 3 months to onboard and then travel regularly every other month.

Primary Responsibilities • Lead programme security accreditation activities and coordinate development and delivery of programme inputs and technical evidence supporting NCIA's Security Accreditation Documentation Sets (SADS).

• Serve as the primary programme interface with the NCIA Security Accreditation Lead and other customer security stakeholders for accreditation planning, reviews, comments, actions, and milestones.

• Translate accreditation requirements into actionable engineering activities, documentation, evidence, dependencies, and completion criteria in coordination with Chief Engineers, functional leads, cybersecurity personnel, Test, DevOps, and other technical stakeholders.

• Plan and manage accreditation work within Jira for each sprint cycle, including user stories, acceptance criteria, story points, priorities, dependencies, blockers, customer comments, and remediation actions.

• Partner with the Scrum Master, Chief Engineers, functional leads, and Product Owners during backlog refinement and sprint planning to ensure required accreditation activities are incorporated into engineering sprint commitments.

• Review programme accreditation inputs and evidence for completeness, consistency, traceability, and alignment with approved architectures and applicable security requirements before delivery to NCIA.

• Maintain traceability between security requirements, architecture and design artifacts, implemented controls, test evidence, risks, and accreditation documentation.

• Coordinate development of supporting accreditation artifacts, including control implementation information, risk assessments, security procedures, configuration information, and verification evidence.

• Coordinate resolution of NCIA accreditation comments and actions with responsible engineering stakeholders and track responses and closure evidence through completion.

• Identify and manage accreditation risks, blockers, dependencies, and schedule impacts, coordinating resolution or escalation as required.

• Work with programme planners and schedulers to integrate accreditation activities, customer reviews, dependencies, and milestones into the Integrated Master Schedule (IMS).

• Monitor accreditation progress against sprint and programme milestones and provide concise status, forecasts, risks, dependencies, and required actions to programme leadership.

• Coordinate with Test and Configuration Management to ensure accreditation evidence reflects verified capabilities and approved technical baselines.

• Assess engineering and configuration changes for accreditation impacts and coordinate required updates to documentation, evidence, and planned Jira work.

• Support security working groups, design and readiness reviews, customer accreditation meetings, and other programme activities requiring accreditation expertise.

• Maintain accurate accreditation records, including submissions, customer comments, decisions, actions, risks, status, and supporting evidence.

Basic Qualifications • Bachelor's degree in Cybersecurity, Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, Information Assurance, or related discipline with 8–12 years of relevant experience, or Master's degree with 6–10 years of relevant experience.

• Active NATO Secret clearance (or higher).

• Demonstrated experience supporting security accreditation, information assurance, cybersecurity compliance, certification and accreditation, or security authorization within secure or regulated environments.

• Experience developing, coordinating, and reviewing security accreditation documentation and technical evidence for complex information systems.

• Experience working with architects, engineers, cybersecurity personnel, developers, testers, and other technical SMEs to translate accreditation requirements into engineering activities and supporting evidence.

• Strong understanding of secure systems engineering, defence-in-depth, identity and access management, network security, vulnerability management, configuration management, and security verification.

• Experience managing accreditation requirements, findings, customer comments, risks, dependencies, actions, and closure evidence across the system development lifecycle.

• Demonstrated experience using Jira within Agile sprint cycles, including creating and refining user stories, defining acceptance criteria, assigning or estimating s

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