GFCE Job Application: GFCE Clearing House Lead

News Item | 8 September 2020

The Global Forum on Cyber Expertise (GFCE) is looking to appoint a GFCE Clearing House Lead. The deadline for applications is 27 September 2020.

Introduction 

The GFCE aims to appoint an ambitious and driven individual, to build an internationally recognized and effective cyber match-matching service for Nations: the GFCE Clearing House. With an effective global Clearing House Mechanism, the GFCE aims to improve efficiency and knowledge sharing in the delivery of cyber capacity building, strengthening global cyber resilience and avoiding the duplication of efforts.

Remuneration

€60,000 pa + benefits

Background

The GFCE

Established in 2015, the GFCE is a multi-stakeholder community of more than 115 members and partners consisting of governments, IGOs, companies, academia, and project implementers from all regions of the world. Its mission is to strengthen cyber capacity and expertise globally by being a pragmatic, action-orientated, and flexible platform for international collaboration. The GFCE delivers its mission through coordination to avoid duplication of efforts and blind spots; knowledge sharing to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of projects; being a Clearing House to connect requests for assistance with offers of support, and identifying and filling knowledge gaps with the development of a global Cyber Capacity Building (CCB) Research Agenda. More information can be found on www.thegfce.org

GFCE Clearing House

The GFCE Clearing House facilitates matchmaking between GFCE Members and Partners: receiving requests for cyber capacity support from GFCE Member nations (‘beneficiaries’) and matchmaking connections with international ‘donors’/’implementers’ (i.e. other nations, private sector actors, IGOs, and charitable foundations) who can offer cyber capacity building resources and expertise.

The GFCE’s Clearing House has been operational since September 2018 and is a core offering and function of the GFCE, as established in the GFCE 2015 mandate. Since 2018, the Clearing House has supported several GFCE member ‘beneficiary’ nations with clearing house requests. For example, helping Tunisia and Sierra Leone with their National Cyber Security Strategies, Senegal with organizing a national and regional CIIP workshop, and The Gambia with cybercrime legislation.

In May 2020, the GFCE community provided feedback on their experiences and recommendations for the Clearing House’s future. The report of the session is available here. The GFCE Secretariat has subsequently refined the Clearing House model, with an aim now to promote the role and offer of the Clearing House, ensuring an effective operating model to meet growing country requests for support.

Role 

This new role will lead the development, focus and objectives of the GFCE’s Clearing House function. The individual will manage all Clearing House country cases, lead the relationship and interaction between countries and coalitions (“Friends of….) of international cyber capacity building ‘donors’ and ‘implementers’.  The Clearing House Lead will also be responsible for promoting the success and ‘offer’ of the GFCE Clearing House internationally, while providing strategic advice to the GFCE Community and Foundation Fund on the future sustainability and operation of the Clearing House.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Refine, implement, and manage the GFCE Clearing House operating model;
•  Lead communications and outreach, with GFCE members and partners, on the role, operation, and offer of the GFCE Clearing House;
• Collaborate with the GFCE Secretariat Communications Lead and Outreach Manager, to promote the unique international offer and opportunity of the GFCE’s Clearing House to new potential GFCE Member nations;
• Lead, with the support of the GFCE Secretariat, any logistics involved in facilitating a Clearing House country case;
•  Set SMART objectives and outcomes to measure the success of the GFCE’s Clearing House operation;
•  Offer initial support to countries in defining their cyber capacity needs through the GFCE’s Clearing House process;
• Lead the formation of international ‘donor’ and ‘implementer’ collations (‘Friends of…’) to support a country Clearing House request;
• Build, manage and maintain relationships with senior government figures (i.e. national ICT Ministers) of nations interested in or who have gone through, the GFCE’s Clearing House process;
• Secure multi-year funding from international donors to sustain and, where appropriate, develop the operation of the GFCE’s Clearing House process;
• Maintain relationships and build links between international ‘donors’ and ‘implementers’ who form collations (‘Friends of…’) communities, to support future country clearing house requests.

No immediate line management duties are required; however, the growth and success of the GFCE’s Clearing House may require the recruitment and management of a Clearing House team.

The Clearing House Lead will report directly to the GFCE Secretariat Director.

Candidate profile: requirements, qualifications, and skills

The successful candidate will have:

• Graduate or master’s degree in (cyber) security studies, technology, business administration, public administration, or a related field;
• A minimum of 4 years’ experience in the field of cyber capacity building, either at national or international level;
• A proven track record building and maintaining the confidence of senior international relationships across government, industry, and international organizations;
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, utilizing differing media channels and communication mediums to convey results, opportunities, and impact to diverse
  audiences;
• Experience of sustainably growing a business function, operation, and/or unit internationally;
• An appetite for innovation: the determination to grow a unique international mechanism for the improvement of global cyber capacity and an ability to translate strategic thinking into large scale practical change and innovation;
• A self-starter, resilient attitude; being willing to deal with logistical and operational details (i.e. administration), while being proactive in seizing opportunities to promote the role and offer of the GFCE Clearing House internationally;
• Experience of working with international donors across industry, government, and the wider international sector;
• Professional, confident, self-motivated, punctual, flexible, proactive, and able to work both independently and as part of a multi-national team.

Desirable:

• Verbal and Written communication skills in French and Spanish;
• Direct Experience of launching a new cyber capacity building operation or function internationally.

Place of employment 

The Hague, with a flexible work from home policy.

How to apply

Please send a cover letter outlining your motivation in applying for the role, addressed to a GFCE Secretariat Director, plus your CV by 27.09.2020 to contact@thegfce.org. Interviews will be held on the w/c 28.09.2020. Please ensure references are included on your CV as a reference check could be part of the selection procedure. Please note that relocation assistance will not be provided.

For more information on this job opportunity, please contact Thomas Jordan, Senior Adviser to GFCE, via contact@thegfce.org.

Please read the full job application here.

The GFCE is an equal opportunity employer and accepts applications without distinction on the grounds of age, race, political, philosophical or religious conviction, sex or sexual orientation and regardless of disabilities, marital status, or family situation.