ESA Graduate Trainee in System Engineering in the EnVision Project

Our team and mission

EnVision was selected by ESA’s Science Programme Committee as the fifth Medium-class mission in the Agency’s Cosmic Vision plan, with a launch in 2031 from ESA’s Spaceport in Kourou. EnVision will be the first mission to investigate Venus from its inner core to its upper atmosphere, characterising the interaction between its different envelopes: its atmosphere, surface/subsurface and interior. It aims to provide a holistic view of Venus, studying the planet’s history, activity, and climate. EnVision is an ESA-led mission in partnership with NASA, with NASA providing the Synthetic Aperture Radar (VenSAR) and Deep Space Network support for critical mission phases.

EnVision’s science payload consists of VenSAR, a dual polarisation S-band radar also operating as microwave radiometer and altimeter, which will map the surface of Venus; three optical spectrometers (VenSpec-M, VenSpec-U and VenSpec-H) designed to observe the surface and atmosphere of Venus; and the Subsurface Radar Sounder (SRS), a High Frequency (HF) sounding radar to probe the top kilometres of subsurface. These are complemented by a Radio Science investigation exploiting the spacecraft Telemetry Tracking and Command (TT&C) system to map the planet’s gravity field and constrain its internal structure, and to measure the composition and structure of Venus’ atmosphere.

The EnVision project team is responsible for implementing the EnVision mission, composed of all its elements (Spacecraft, Instruments, Ground Segment).

The role of the Mission System and Performance team within the EnVision project is to ensure that the mission will fulfil its mission requirements by rigorous requirements apportioning, defining and controlling interfaces between elements, and verifying the requirements by establishing end-to-end performance budgets, supported as needed by mission performance simulations. The team is directly interfacing with all stakeholders of the mission (industry, the mission operations center at ESOC in Germany, the Science Operations center at ESAC in Spain, the launcher provider, the science team and the instrument teams).

The mission and performance team develops and maintains mission-level tools and budgets (e.g., Delta V budget, aerobraking scenarios), including mission performance simulators for both the aerobraking and scientific parts of the mission.

Field(s) of activity/research for the traineeship

You will be involved in different core functions of the Mission & Performance team, in particular:

Support to aerobraking engineering

The aerobraking mission simulator is developed and maintained by the project team to support the assessment of aerobraking related performance and different corridor strategies evolutions which may occur post SRR, and used to specify the reference aerobraking corridor and the reference aerobraking environmental specification. You will:

• contribute to the evolution of the existing Aerobraking simulator into a python-based environment to enable faster simulations, and contribute to extensive Monte Carlo analysis to assess the statistics of various environment parameters relevant to the Spacecraft, ahead of system PDR.
• be supporting the specification of the aerobraking corridor towards ESOC flight dynamics ahead of the ground segment requirement review. This work on aerobraking will allow the EGT to develop its system engineering skills, and will involve close collaboration with all key stakeholders of the mission (ESA project, operations and flight dynamics, industry and possibly instrument teams).

Support to mission performance requirements verification

The verification of mission requirements requires elaborating specific simulations and building up performance budgets to properly capture the combination of all identified contributors. You will:

• be involved in supporting the verification of mission-performance requirements related for instance to geo-location, doppler budget, coverage, stereo-topography overlap requirements, etc, in preparation for the mission SRR planned in early 2026. This work on the mission performance aspects of the mission will allow you to develop another core skill in the area of system engineering: requirements engineering (incl. verification), and to interact also with the science team and instrument teams.

Technical competencies

• Knowledge of relevant technical/functional domains
• Relevant experience gained during internships, project work and/or extracurricular or other activities
• General knowledge of the space sector and relevant activities
• Knowledge of ESA and its programmes/projects

Behavioural competencies

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

Education

You should have recently completed or be in the final year of your master’s degree in Space Systems Engineering.

Additional requirements

You should have good interpersonal and communication skills and should be able to work in a multicultural environment, both independently and as part of a team. Previous experience of working in international teams can be considered an asset. Your motivation, overall professional perspective and career goals will also be explored during the later stages of the selection process.

You should be proficient in Python and should be able to work autonomously.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusiveness
ESA is an equal opportunity employer, committed to achieving diversity within the workforce and creating an inclusive working environment. We therefore welcome applications from all qualified candidates irrespective of gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, beliefs, age, disability or other characteristics. Applications from women are encouraged.

At the Agency we value diversity, and we welcome people with disabilities. Whenever possible, we seek to accommodate individuals with disabilities by providing the necessary support at the workplace. The Human Resources Department can also provide assistance during the recruitment process. If you would like to discuss this further, please contact us via email at contact.human.resources@esa.int.

Important Information and Disclaimer
Applicants must be eligible to access technology and hardware which is subject to European and US export control regulations.

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.

The information published on ESA’s careers website regarding working conditions is correct at the time of publication. It is not intended to be exhaustive and may not address all questions you would have.