Description

Future Earth Observation System Engineer in the Mission and System Studies Section, Future Missions and Instruments Division, Future Missions and Architecture Department, Directorate of Earth Observation Programmes (D/EOP).

Reporting to the Head of the Mission and System Studies Section, you will be involved in the end to-end preparation of EO missions through appropriate engineering activities, working in close cooperation with staff within your own and other D/EOP Divisions, notably Earth and Mission Science.

Duties

You will have full or partial responsibilities in some or all of the following areas:

• defining, initiating and managing industrial activities, including pre-Phase A and mission/architecture studies for future EO missions and Phase A for missions not yet approved for implementation, ensuring handover to the Project Department after approval;
• initiating and performing internal studies to assess the results of industrial activities;
• defining and updating system specifications throughout the preparatory phases of EO missions in close cooperation with the Earth and Mission Science Division and the relevant science and mission advisory groups, supporting the establishment of mission requirements and deriving system requirements traceable to mission requirements and user needs;
• ensuring the technical coherence of the system design, including system-level budgets, system performance analyses, definition of spacecraft and payload subsystems and related data processing;
• contributing to the evaluation of industrial and scientific proposals, in particular for Earth Explorers, Scout missions and missions of opportunity;
• contributing to the preparation of scientific and technical dossiers on ESA EO missions;
• supporting InCubed proposal evaluation and follow-up of EO upstream activities;
• contributing to the analysis of EO development undertaken by other space agencies in Europe and worldwide, as well as commercial initiatives such as those performed in the context of New Space;
• contributing to the specification and development of mission analysis, mission performance and system-sizing tools used in the Future Missions and Instruments Division.

Technical competencies

Behavioural competencies

Result Orientation
Operational Efficiency
Fostering Cooperation
Relationship Management
Continuous Improvement
Forward Thinking

Education

A master’s degree or PhD in engineering or physics is required for this post.

Additional requirements

• You will be expected to contribute to a dynamic and creative environment in preparatory phases of EO missions.
• You should have good interpersonal skills and be able to work, coordinate and interact within small teams as well as autonomously. 
• At least six years’ relevant experience in space mission preparation and/or development is required.
• You should have experience in technical negotiations, risk assessment and managing uncertainties.
• Experience in working in a team or project environment is desirable.
• Familiarity with EO spaceborne instrumentation and experience of spaceborne hardware development and system performance evaluation is desirable.