EO Future Mission End-to-End System and Performance Engineer
Job Requisition ID: 19699
Date Posted: 20 June 2025
Closing Date: 11 July 2025 23:59 CET/CEST
Publication: Internal & External
Type of Contract: Fixed-Term
Directorate: Earth Observation Programmes
Workplace:Noordwijk, NL
Grade Band: A2 - A4
This is a non-renewable post for a limited duration of 4 years.

DESCRIPTION

Earth Observation (EO) Future Mission End-to-End System and Performance 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 in the Future Missions and Instruments Division, you will be involved with end-to-end preparation of Future EO missions through appropriate engineering, coordination and management activities. You will work in close cooperation with staff within this and other D/EOP divisions, notably Earth and Mission Science, and interact with EO users, such as Scientific Mission Advisory Groups.

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 the 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.
You should be able to coordinate and iterate with Earth Observation users for the definition of mission needs and requirements.
At least four years’ relevant experience in space missions preparation and/or development.
Experience in working in team/project environment are required.
Knowledge of EO spaceborne instrumentation is an asset.

Your responsibilities will include some or all of the following:

• defining, negotiating, initiating and managing industrial activities including pre-Phase A, mission/architecture studies and Phase A for EO future small missions, for example Scout missions, under the responsibility of the Division, including the technical coordination of a small team of engineers, and ensuring the handover to the EO Projects Department for implementation after mission approval;
• defining, negotiating, initiating and managing industrial activities for the preparation and development, up to the end of the in-orbit commissioning phase, of small satellites under the Division’s responsibility that are dedicated to the in-orbit proof-of-concept of innovative EO techniques enabled by disruptive technologies, for example Phi-sats, including the technical coordination of a small team of engineers;
• participating in the evaluation of EO small mission proposals in the context of the InCubed (Investing in Industrial Innovation) Earth Watch Programme Element in collaboration with EOP-S and other directorates as appropriate. You will initiate and manage the resulting activities for derisking and implementation when involving upstream (space segment) development, or ensure their handover to the team responsible for implementation if not managed by the Division;
• defining, negotiating, initiating, and managing or supporting industrial activities including pre-Phase A and mission/architecture studies for EO future missions (e.g. Earth Explorers, Missions of Opportunity, Copernicus or Meteorological missions);
• defining, negotiating, initiating, and managing or supporting Phase A industrial activities for missions not yet approved for implementation (e.g. Earth Explorers, Missions of Opportunity), and, after approval, ensuring the handover to the Project Department for implementation;
• initiating and performing internal studies to assess the results of industrial activities;
• initiating and performing internal studies to assess the merits of new EO end-to-end mission concepts;
• defining and updating system and end-to-end performance simulator specifications throughout the preparatory phases of EO missions, in close cooperation with the Earth and Mission Science Division and the relevant Scientific Mission Advisory Groups or similar, supporting the establishment of the mission requirements and deriving system requirements that are traceable to the mission requirements and user needs;
• defining, negotiating, initiating and managing or supporting end-to-end performance simulator for future EO missions, leading or supporting the simulation campaigns to provide input for the Report for Mission Assessment and User Consultation Meetings;
• supporting work in the modelling of end-to-end performance simulators (scene generators, geometry module, spacecraft, payload, forward and retrieval algorithms, level 0 to level 1 algorithms, etc.);
• supporting the development of generic building blocks and modules for end-to-end performance simulators, aiming for maximum synergy and reuse of those building blocks and modules from one E2E simulator to the next;
• contributing to the evaluation of industrial and scientific proposals, including those for Earth Explorers and Missions of Opportunity;
• contributing to the preparation of scientific and technical dossiers on EO missions;
• contributing to the analysis of EO developments undertaken by other space agencies in Europe and worldwide, as well as commercial EO initiatives including “NewSpace”;
• contributing to the specification and development of mission analysis, mission performance and system-sizing tools used in the Division.