ESA Graduate Trainee in Support to Performance and Engineering Requirement Management

ESA Graduate Trainee in Support to Performance and Engineering Requirement Management

Our team and mission

The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) is an ESA-led mission in partnership with NASA. LISA is the first space mission designed to observe the universe via gravitational waves, ripples in the fabric of space time caused by the acceleration of massive objects in the universe. Since January 2024 LISA is preparing to enter the Implementation Phase.

The mission aims to determine how and when massive black holes in galactic nuclei formed and evolved over time. It will cover the mass-redshift parameter space to reconstruct their history. By examining gravitational wave signals from merging black holes, the mission will reveal their spin and redshifted mass to distinguish various formation scenarios. Additionally, it will analyse signals from thousands of stellar-mass binaries in the Galaxy, providing distances, orbital and mass parameters for compact binaries. This data will help map stars evolution and study tidal and non-gravitational influences on orbits due to the compact remnants' internal physics.

The LISA observatory consists of 3 spacecrafts forming an equilateral triangular constellation of 2.5 million km side-length, in trailing orbit with respect to the Earth at about 50 million km. The passage of a gravitational wave results in a modulation of the length of one arm with respect to another, which is detected using laser interferometry.

LISA is planned to be launched on an Ariane 64 into a direct escape trajectory. Each spacecraft is endowed with electric propulsion for the transfer to its operational orbit, attained after 1.5 years, where, after the acquisition of the interferometric links between the three spacecraft, the gravitational wave observatory will operate for 4.5 years (nominally).

ESA is responsible for the mission, including procurement of the three spacecraft and the launch vehicle together with the development of the ground segment to control and operate the spacecraft (from Mission Operation Centre – MOC) and to perform the science mission planning and process the data products, including archiving (from the Science Operation Centre – SOC). The ESA Member States and NASA contribute to the LISA mission with several payload elements, while ESA has the responsibility of the payload system aspects, including the integration and verification of all the payload elements onto the spacecraft. In LISA, ESA has also the overall responsibility of the verification of the mission performance at spacecraft and constellation level, under the control of the Mission and Performance team as part of the ESA LISA project.

You will be a member of the ESA Project Team in the Performance Section but are expected to exchange also with all members of the team. To support the control of the performance allocations and the related requirements, a complex break down of performance allocations has been performed and is controlled by the Performance Team. A new requirements management software tool (JAMA) was installed recently by the Project Team and is being populated.

Field(s) of activity/research for the traineeship

Your main tasks and activities will include:

• Interact and support the performance team with the management of the performance budget allocations and the associated mission requirements at all levels (entire mission, system, sub-system, unit).
• Interact with JAMA and develop specific tools to support the visualisation of budget allocations and their logical relations at all levels in close interaction with our team.
• Develop status overview tools (project dashboard) and implement process flows for the change and approval process, versioning and export for documentation in support of reviews.
• Support the team with the import of requirements and their technical consolidation within the tool, such as verification of the import, separation of common data in a common field, cross-referencing of requirements and budget entries, etc.

Additionally, you will support the development of interfaces from JAMA to performance modelling and simulation tools.

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 just completed, or be in the final year of your master’s degree in engineering or computer sciences.

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.

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
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.

Nationality and Languages
Please note that applications can only be 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, and the United Kingdom. Nationals from Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia as Associate Member States, or Canada as a Cooperating State, can apply as well as those from Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus and Malta as European Cooperating States (ECS).

According to the ESA Convention, the recruitment of staff must take into account an adequate distribution of posts among nationals of the ESA Member States*. When short-listing for an interview, priority will be given to external candidates from under-represented 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.