Description

Contracts Officer reporting to the Head of the Science Contracts Service in the Science and Exploration Contracts Division, Contracts Department, Directorate of Commercialisation, Industry and Competitiveness.

The Contracts Department is responsible for all procurement-related matters, including invitations to tender (ITTs), requests for quotation (RFQs), contracts and purchase orders, in line with the Agency's industrial policy.

As an ESA Contracts Officer, you will support the technical officers and the project, programme and mission managers in covering all procurement and contractual aspects of ESA’s science-related activities and projects, including technology development activities, PRODEX and the preparation of future missions. You will also be responsible for ensuring that procurement activities are executed in compliance with the legal and industrial policy requirements set out in ESA's Procurement Regulations. 

You will be part of the Science Contracts Service team with a hierarchical reporting line to the Head of the Contracts Service, thus ensuring an appropriate level of independence, impartiality, transparency and compliance with procurement/tendering and contracting processes.

Duties

Your tasks and responsibilities will include:

• ensuring full compliance of all procurement activities assigned to you with ESA's rules, regulations, policies and strategies;
• effectively implementing the internal control, proper design and functioning of a client-oriented procurement/tendering and contracting process;
• ensuring the timely and efficient preparation of the various elements of the procurement and contract documentation;
• providing guidelines for application of the relevant and up-to-date legal and industrial policy measures throughout the procurement/tendering and contracting process;
• organising and coordinating all stages of procurement, including issuing the invitations to tender, ensuring proposals are received and verifying their admissibility, evaluating them and negotiating the resulting contract with the selected contractor(s);
• promoting an awareness and understanding of ESA's procurement/tendering and contracting processes to the relevant stakeholders;
• monitoring the performance of the contracts, including the negotiation of all amendments;
• dealing with any administrative, contractual, legal and industrial matters that may arise, including matters involving regular and direct interaction with industrial counterparts;
• building a relationship of trust with the project and mission managers and technical officers and their respective teams, advising them on all procurement-related matters.

Technical competencies

Behavioural competencies

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

Education

A master’s degree in law is required for this post.

Additional requirements

Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written;
Customer orientation with sound judgement in solving problems;
Ability to interact with multiple international actors and to work collaboratively in a team to achieve organisational goals;
Excellent planning and organisation skills and the ability to manage several tasks efficiently in parallel;
Strong ability to adapt to a fast-paced environment;
Knowledge of French and English, with the ability to understand and draft contractual/legal texts in both languages;
Ability to understand technical and management-related matters;
Discretion and integrity.