Vacancy Notice 1567

INTERPOL is the world’s largest international police organization, with 196 Member Countries. Created in 1923, it facilitates cross-border police co-operation, and supports and assists all organizations, authorities, and services whose mission is to prevent or combat international crime. 

INTERPOL actively encourages applications from women and nationals of member countries that are currently unrepresented among our staff (please click on this link to access the list of countries). Candidates from these countries are particularly encouraged to apply. 

INTERPOL’s recruitment process is merit-based hence all hiring decisions are made considering the applicant’s qualifications and the needs of the Organization.

Job Title: Head of Department - Engineering and Solution Design Competency Center    
Reporting To: Chief Technology Officer

Location: Lyon
Type of contract: Fixed-term Contract
Duration (in months): 36.00  *
Grade: 3   
Number of post: 1
Level of Security screening:  Enhanced
Deadline for application: 29 March 2026

Conditions applying for all candidates

Only professional experience for which candidates can provide official proof of employment will be considered. Candidates could be requested to provide copies of such official documents prior to interviews/test.

* Subsequent extension to this post will be subject to the terms of the Organization’s Staff Manual, to satisfactory performance and to availability of funds.

Tests/interviews in connection to this selection procedure will take place approximately 2/3 weeks after the deadline for applications. Applicants are kindly requested to plan their availability during this period accordingly, in case they are short-listed.

​Selected candidates will be expected to report for duty approximately one to three months after receiving an offer of employment at the latest.

This selection exercise may be used to generate a reserve list of suitable candidates that may be used to address Organization's similar staffing needs in the future.

Within the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Executive Directorate / Technology and Engineering Sub-Directorate, the Head of Engineering, and Solution Design (ENGI Competency Centre leads the Architecture & Engineering functions under the authority of the Chief Technology Officer (CTO). They manage two organizational units: the Engineering Team and the Solution Design Competency Centre. The incumbent ensures effective planning, resource allocation, staff development, and performance management, while fostering a culture of engineering excellence, innovation, and cross-functional collaboration.

DUTY 1: Leadership, People Management & Organizational Culture

• Provide strategic leadership to the Engineering, and Solution Design teams, ensuring alignment with ICT governance, enterprise priorities, and operational needs.

• Manage workforce planning, recruitment, performance, and the professional development of Engineering and Solution Architecture staff.
• Build and sustain a multidisciplinary team of architects, defining role profiles, competency frameworks, and career development paths.
• Foster a culture of excellence, innovation, accountability, psychological safety, collaboration, and continuous learning.
• Promote effective change management, documentation, knowledge transfer, and structured training to ensure adoption of engineered solutions across ICT.

DUTY 2: Engineering, Platform Architecture & Technical Delivery Oversight

• Lead the design, delivery, and lifecycle management of cloud-ready and hybrid-cloud infrastructure components (compute, storage, networking, systems).
• Oversee DevOps platform evolution (CI/CD, IaC, container orchestration, observability, automation toolchains), ensuring secure-by-design and compliance-by-default implementation.
• Develop the security and IAM architecture, in collaboration with CTO and Chief Information Security Officer (CISO).
• Provide senior technical leadership across programmes, coordinating engineering dependencies, platform services, and cross-domain delivery activities.
• Ensure robust deployment, integration, incident prevention, root-cause analysis, and post-mortem processes.
• Provide Level 3 escalation support through Engineering and Solution Design teams for complex infrastructure, platform, and architectural issues.

DUTY 3: Engineering Governance, Strategy Alignment & Portfolio Management

• Define, implement, and maintain the engineering operating model aligned with enterprise architecture, security, and ICT governance frameworks (e.g., ISO 27001, TOGAF).
• Translate organizational strategies into engineering roadmaps, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), maturity objectives, and measurable outcomes.
• Govern engineering standards, policies, design authorities, approval processes, and quality assurance mechanisms.
• Manage the engineering portfolio, ensuring prioritization based on business value, risk, dependencies, and resource availability.
• Establish and evolve engineering best practices, reusable building blocks, templates, playbooks, and communities of practice to drive standardization and engineering excellence.
• Monitor engineering maturity, delivery velocity, platform reliability, and operational resilience through quantitative and qualitative indicators.

DUTY 4: Solution Architecture & Solution Design Competency Centre Leadership

• Lead the Solution Design Competency Centre, ensuring appropriate staffing, capacity, knowledge sharing and continuous professional development of Solution Architects.
• Embed Solution Architects within delivery of Squads, promoting architectural conformity, early engagement, and reduction of technical debt.
• Provide oversight and leadership for solution architecture of new products and services, ensuring security, scalability, interoperability, and alignment with ICT governance.
• Ensure consistent application of architectural principles and traceability of decisions throughout the delivery lifecycle.
• Strengthen the maturity of Solution Architecture practice through structured methodologies, architectural patterns, peer reviews, and cross-team knowledge sharing.
• Promote systematic reuse of engineering building blocks to maximize interoperability, operational efficiency, and long-term maintainability.

DUTY 5: Enterprise Platform Strategy & Evolution

• Contribute to the definition, evolution, and architectural direction of shared enterprise platforms (Data Platform, AI Platform, Integration/API Platform, etc.).
• Ensure platforms demonstrate architectural integrity, enable systematic reuse, and remain aligned with business needs and ICT governance.
• Provide architectural guidance for platform roadmaps, capability planning, and cross-platform technical integration.

DUTY 6: ICT Architecture Governance Authority

• Define and maintain the Organization’s ICT architecture principles, blueprints, reference models, and technology standards.
• Lead ICT architecture governance processes, chairing the Technical Architecture Committee (TAC) and the Architecture Review Board (ARB).
• Ensure adherence to architecture standards, alignment of ICT initiatives with strategic objectives, and traceability of architectural decisions.
• Provide authoritative guidance on major design decisions, technology adoption, and mitigation of architectural risks.

DUTY 7: Stakeholder Management, Communication & External Representation

• Act as a strategic interface between engineering, architecture, operations, and business units, ensuring transparent and cohesive communication.
• Represent engineering and architecture domains in governance boards, steering committees, and digital transformation initiatives.
• Communicate priorities, risks, decisions, progress, and outcomes to senior leadership, internal stakeholders, and external partners.
• Provide expert input on budget planning, sourcing strategies, and vendor and contract management related to infrastructure, platforms, and engineering services.

Perform other related duties as required by the hierarchy.

Education and qualification required:

• At least five years completed university degree (master's degree or equivalent) in a relevant field.

Experience required:

• Minimum of eight years of professional experience in a field relevant to IT Technology and Engineering, including demonstrated experience managing diverse teams in a multicultural environment.
• Proven track record in team leadership and technical management.
• Experience in planning, developing, and coordinating complex activities with a high degree of autonomy.

Languages:

• Fluency in English is required.
• Proficiency in another official language of the Organization (Arabic, French, Spanish) would be an asset.

Special Abilities:

Architecture & Technology Strategy

• Ability to translate business needs into secure, scalable architectures.
• Strong command of enterprise and solution architecture frameworks (e.g., TOGAF, ArchiMate).
• Experience defining architecture principles, standards and reference models.

Cloud, Infrastructure & Platforms

• Solid expertise in cloud and hybrid‑cloud environments (compute, storage, networking, containers).
• Practical experience with major cloud/provider technologies (AWS/Azure, VMware, Kubernetes).

DevOps & Automation

• Strong proficiency in DevOps practices, CI/CD, Infrastructure‑as‑Code, observability, configuration management.
• Hands‑on experience with related tools and automation tooling.

Cybersecurity Architecture

• Strong understanding of security architecture, IAM, zero‑trust, secure design principles.
• Experience embedding security controls into engineering and delivery processes (SSDLC).

Software Engineering & Scripting

• Working knowledge of common programming/scripting languages (Python, Go/Rust, Java).
• Ability to promote clean code, automated testing, and modern engineering practices.

Leadership, Collaboration & Communication

• Proven ability to lead multidisciplinary technical teams and drive complex initiatives.
• Strong communication skills with both technical and non‑technical stakeholders.
• Ability to work effectively in multicultural environments, foster collaboration, and build strong relationships.

Special aptitudes:

• Demonstrated maturity, sound judgement, and discretion in complex and sensitive situations.
• Strong analytical abilities, with the capacity to apply rigorous logical and inductive reasoning and distill complex information into clear, actionable insights.
• Ability to work effectively both independently and within multidisciplinary teams, contributing constructively to shared objectives.
• Proven resilience and ability to perform under pressure while maintaining high professional standards.

• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with strong listening abilities and the capacity to collaborate effectively in multicultural and international environments.
• High degree of initiative, creativity, and intellectual curiosity, with the ability to apply original thinking to problem-solving.
• Forward-looking mindset, with awareness of innovation and emerging technologies relevant to the Organization’s mandate.
• Ability to build and strategically leverage professional networks across diverse internal and external stakeholders.
• Strong organizational skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities and meet deadlines