Lead Telecom Payload Engineer

ESA; Noordwijk; On-site; EUR 110,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

ESA invites applications for a Lead Telecom Payload Engineer to oversee the payload design, development, verification and in-orbit validation within the Sunrise and D2D partnership projects. You will coordinate with satellite operators and industrial primes, ensuring alignment with mission requirements, schedules and budgets.

The role requires a Master’s degree or a Bachelor's with substantial relevant experience, plus strong capabilities in negotiation, risk management and cross-team

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in a relevant domain with 4 years of experience, or a Bachelor's with additional 4 years of experience.
• Experience with commercial telecommunications prime contractors or operators is advantageous.
• Ability to clearly communicate complex technical issues to teams and external parties.
• Experience coordinating cross-disciplinary topics within a project team.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design, development, qualification, on-ground verification and in-orbit validation of the satellite payload.
• Interface with satellite operator and industrial prime contractor on day-to-day decisions.
• Support contract negotiation and management of industry payload contracts and CCNs/RFD/RFW/NCRs.
• Coordinate payload reviews with operators and industry partners; participate in spacecraft- and mission-level reviews.
• Mentor engineers and support staff across TEC and OPS directorates.
• Monitor payload schedule, assess risks and propose mitigations; ensure performance within budgets.

Skills

Payload design

On-orbit verification

Project leadership

Contract negotiation

Risk management

Industry standards

Education

Master's degree in a relevant domain

Bachelor's degree + 4 years' experience

Job description

Lead Telecom Payload Engineer within the Commercial Constellations and Next-Gen 5G/6G NTN Partnerships Division in the Commercial Partnerships Department within the Directorate of Commercialisation and Industry Partnership.

• Location: ESTEC, Noordwijk, Netherlands; ECSAT, Harwell, the United Kingdom.
• Type of Appointment: 4 years, extendable to indefinite.
• Workplace: Noordwijk, NL; Harwell, GB.
• Grade Band: A2-A4.

As Lead Telecom Payload Engineer, you will be responsible for all payload development and procurement aspects in your assigned projects.

You will be the focal point and day-to-day interface with the satellite operator and industrial prime contractor. Under the leadership and authority of management, you will be responsible for decision-making on behalf of the ESA Partnership Project, as well as for the design, development, qualification, on-ground verification and in-orbit validation of the satellite payload, ensuring overall consistency with the mission and end-to-end performance requirements and compliance with the schedule and budget.

As your first assignment, you will work on the Sunrise Partnership Project and report to the Sunrise Project Manager. In addition, you will also work on the Direct-to-Device (D2D) Partnership Projects (ELEOSYS and SELCYE) within the same department.

Duties

Your tasks will include:

• leading the design, development, qualification, on-ground verification and in-orbit validation of the satellite telecom payload in partnership with the satellite operators and the industrial consortium;
• contributing to contract negotiation and managing industry payload contract(s), including CCNs and RFD/RFW/NCRs;
• supporting, as required, the industry tailoring and leading the subsequent application of ECSS, international and industry standards;
• responsibility for the satellite payload requirements and specifications, technical budgets, design drivers, internal and external payload interfaces, satellite payload performance, operational concepts, including their consistency with the mission requirements, specifications and technical budgets;
• managing, together with the satellite operator and the industrial prime contractor, the payload, subsystem and equipment reviews;
• participating in all spacecraft- and mission-level reviews as lead payload representative of the ESA project;
• leading the preparation and implementation of payload-level and payload lower-level reviews in cooperation with the project team and supporting the other project team engineers in other project lower-level reviews;
• leading a team of engineers and specialised engineering support from the Directorates of Technology, Engineering and Quality (TEC) and Operations (OPS);
• proactively monitoring the overall payload schedule, identifying risks and problem areas, providing assessments and proposing mitigation actions from industry and the ESA side;
• monitoring the completion of payload activities within technical performance, schedule and cost;
• monitoring payload competitiveness through regular competitiveness meetings;
• supporting the Project Manager for regular technical, programmatic and financial reporting to ESA management and the Participating States;
• supporting meetings with delegations and partners as required;
• contributing to relevant communication and outreach activities;
• supporting other activities of the Department, such as the preparation of future mission opportunities, as required and relevant to your experience.

Technical competencies

• Experience in telecom satellite payload design, development, verification and in-orbit validation
• Experience with 5G payloads for constellations
• Knowledge of ESA and industrial space development, verification and quality assurance processes
• Knowledge of ESA or large industrial procurement processes and contract negotiation
• Experience with complex project risk management processes, industrial costs and schedule control
• Experience with telecom satellite operators

Behavioural competencies

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

Education and professional experience

A master’s degree in a relevant domain is required for this post together with 4 years of relevant professional experience. Alternatively, candidates with a bachelor’s degree, complemented by an additional four (4) years of relevant professional experience can be considered.

Additional requirements

• Direct experience of working with a commercial telecommunications prime contractor and/or operator would be a distinct advantage
• Experience with ESA’s Partnership Projects would be an asset
• Ability to understand and to clearly and concisely communicate complex technical issues to a team and external parties
• Experience of working in a team within a project and experience of coordinating cross-disciplinary topics

In principle, recruitment will be within the advertised grade band (A2-A4). However, if the selected candidate has less than four years of relevant professional experience following the completion of the master’s degree, the position may be filled at A1 level.

Applicants must be eligible to access information, technology, and hardware which is subject to European or US export control.

During the recruitment process, the Agency may request applicants to undergo selection tests. Additionally, successful candidates will need to undergo basic screening before appointment, which will be conducted by an external background screening service, in compliance with the European Space Agency's security procedures.

Note that ESA is in the process of transitioning to a Matrix setup, which could lead to organisational changes affecting this position.

Nationality and Languages

Applications are only considered from nationals of one of the following States: Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Canada, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia.

According to the ESA Convention, staff shall be recruited on the basis of their qualifications, taking into account an adequate distribution of posts among nationals of the Member States.

The working languages of the Agency are English and French. A good knowledge of one of these is required. Knowledge of another Member State language would be an asset.