Junior Professional in Autonomous and Intelligent On-board Data System in Support to EO Missions

This post is part of ESA’s Junior Professional Programme. ESA is looking for enthusiastic candidates with up to 3 years of relevant professional experience after their Master's degree to join ESA for a four-year assignment. During this time, you will be actively working and learning on the job and will benefit from valuable mobility and developmental opportunities that will prepare you for a successful career at ESA. Subject to performance, it is therefore the intention to offer you an indefinite contract which will start at the end of the four years.

Developmental assignments form an integral part of the Junior Professional Programme and may entail a temporary relocation to another ESA establishment or other location.

Junior Professional in Autonomous and Intelligent On-board Data System in Support to EO Missions

Description

As a Junior Professional in autonomous and intelligent onboard data systems in support of EO Missions, you will report to the ROSE-L System, Operations and Performance Manager.

The Earth Observation missions currently in development at ESA include a number of projects featuring high data rates with very stringent availability, timeliness and responsiveness requirements.

Notable examples of such missions include the ROSE-L (Radar Observing System for Europe at L-band) and Sentinel-1 Next Generation constellations part of the Copernicus Programme.

You will play a forward-looking role in defining the evolution of the onboard systems and their path towards greater autonomy and responsiveness, spanning faster reprogramming, reduced time-to-data and real-time onboard intelligence. This includes assessing the application of enhanced functionality such as optical inter-satellite links (laser communications), AI-driven edge computing and space data centres, as well as the related flight and ground segment interfaces. The results of your work will help to shape how the capabilities of Copernicus and other EO systems will evolve.

Initially assigned to the Copernicus ROSE-L System Section, ROSE-L Project Division, Copernicus Space Segment Programme, Earth Observation Projects Department, Directorate of Earth Observation Programmes, you will leverage the capabilities of the End-to-End Simulator (E2ES) and Ground Prototype Processor (GPP) to support the above forward-looking activities.

Duties

Your tasks and responsibilities will include the following:

• You will begin by immersing yourself in the ROSE-L mission’s scope, requirements and system architecture, quickly becoming a proficient user of the End-to-End Simulator and Ground Prototype Processor (E2ES/GPP), the simulation platform that will be your primary tool for exploring future enhancements and evolution.
• You will actively engage with the E2ES/GPP development and procurement process through progress meetings, technical reviews and factory acceptance tests, building the deep system understanding needed to drive future innovation.
• As your expertise in the E2ES/GPP deepens, you will run end-to-end mission scenarios to evaluate SAR and system performance under a range of operating conditions. This work will directly support the ROSE-L development and in-orbit commissioning, while simultaneously building the simulation know-how needed to explore future concepts.
• In parallel, you will participate in the ROSE-L SAR instrument on-ground characterisation and testing activities, gaining first-hand knowledge of AIT processes.
• You will translate characterisation results into updated sets of input parameters, ensuring the simulation environment faithfully represents the real instrument, a prerequisite for credible future-mission trade-off studies.
• From year two, your focus will shift decisively to the future while broadening your perspective to embrace additional ESA EO SAR missions such as Sentinel-1 Next Generation and Harmony.
• Drawing on your E2ES/GPP expertise, you will support the assessment of how the use of new space and ground services and infrastructure can improve SAR mission autonomy and responsiveness.
• Using the simulator as a supporting tool, you will evaluate the use of onboard AI and edge-computing architectures, including in-space data centres and AI-driven processing pipelines, capable of compressing and pre-processing SAR data on-orbit to cut time-to-user and enable near-real-time support for emergency and security services.
• You will engage closely with the EO Flight Operations, Ground Segment and onboard processing experts at ESA and in industry to assess technical feasibility and define a clear path towards implementation in future SAR missions.
• Concurrently, you will investigate the application of upcoming optical communication services for enhancing SAR missions.
• You will analyse how free-space laser links, exploiting the IRIS² data relay infrastructure and other emerging commercial optical networks, can increase downlink capacity and cut time-to-data.
• You will also explore how coupling optical communications with onboard processing can unlock new operational paradigms for emergency response, near-real-time monitoring and autonomous mission management.
• You will engage with other ESA directorates and external stakeholders to understand optical communication service interfaces and map the broader connectivity landscape.

Development programme

In addition to your daily work, you will take part in an extensive learning and development programme. From day one, you will learn on the job and benefit from tailored development opportunities, including participation in technical and key skills training courses.

Furthermore, there is a mobility component to the Junior Professional Programme that can be either an internal rotation to another team within ESA, an external secondment outside of ESA or a combination of both. Internal rotations aim to boost your professional experience and knowledge of the European Space Agency, whereas external secondments aim to boost your professional experience and knowledge of the European space sector.

Potential internal rotations for this position are:

• In the EO Mission Management and Ground Support Department at ESRIN to gain knowledge of the EO ground segment architecture and services, interfaces and operations towards end users, including acquiring know-how of Level 2 and higher product processing and performances;
• In the EO Missions Division at ESOC to gain knowledge on the EO flight operations architecture and services, interfaces and operations;
• In the Directorate of Technology, Engineering and Quality at ESTEC, specifically in the Electrical and System Departments, to gain knowledge about onboard data systems, processing software technologies and future capabilities;
• In the Directorate of Resilience, Navigation and Connectivity at ESTEC, specifically to gain knowledge in relevant future communication and navigation capabilities to be leveraged in support of EO missions.

Potential external secondments for this position include co-location periods on industry premises to take part in the SAR instrument on-ground characterisation and learn or broaden your knowledge about AIT/AIV processes, procedures and best practices.

Technical competencies

• Knowledge of remote sensing, synthetic aperture radar or optical systems and related data processing
• Knowledge of end-to-end space system architectures and interest in disruptive technologies such as in-space data processing and autonomous operations
• Some experience in software development and familiarity with AI tools, simulation tools, data processing pipelines or system modelling environments
• Knowledge of system and mission performance engineering and requirements management
• Ability to work both autonomously and as part of a team within the boundaries of assigned tasks and a stringent schedule

Behavioural competencies

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

Important Information and Disclaimer

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

Nationality and Languages

Please note that 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, 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.