Description

The European Space Agency maintains a world-leading Science Programme with missions in heliophysics, planetary science, astrophysics and fundamental physics. Its mission is to 'Empower Europe to lead space science'. The Department of Science Operations (SCI-S), within ESA's Directorate for Science, host the scientists and engineers that oversee the space missions from study to end of operations; it develops the science operation systems for the missions and operates the missions in space; it archives and curates their data during operations and beyond. Our main objective is to maximise the scientific output of the missions for the benefit of humankind.

The development, maintenance and operations of the science operations centres, archives and data science systems requires strict product assurance coordination. You will be assigned as Product Assurance & Safety (PA&S) Coordinator to the Science Operations Department (SCI-S), Directorate of Science - as integrated support from the Software Product Assurance Section in the Product Assurance and Safety Department of the Directorate of Technology, Engineering and Quality.

As PA&S Coordinator, you will report hierarchically to the Head of Science Operations Department (SCI-S). You will provide Product Assurance and Safety (PA&S) support to projects in the Science Operations Department and will oversee the product assurance provided by companies providing services to the department.

For the maintenance of professional standards, for the implementation of the ESA general Product Assurance and Safety (PA&S) policy and for contributions to corporate tasks (e.g. reviews, standardization, alerts, lessons learned, etc.), you will report to the Head of the Product Assurance & Safety Department (TEC-Q), through the Head of the Science Product Assurance & Safety Office (SCI-PQ). 
 

Duties

Specific responsibilities and duties of this post include: 

•    establishing and maintaining with the managers the PA&S requirements baseline for all projects in the Science Operations Department, in compliance with the ESA general PA&S policy;
•    reviewing the service companies’ plans, specifications and effort proposed for the execution of their PA&S programmes; guiding and monitoring the corresponding implementation of the latter;
•    monitoring the development, integration and test activities within ESA and the service companies, with quality assurance audits, key inspection points, test witnessing and configuration inspections;
•    leading the implementation and maintenance of the SCI-S Lessons Learned process; 
•    supporting to the software licensing activities in the department as member of the software licensing board;
•    representing ESA PA&S in the boards established within the projects dealing with Non-conformances/Anomalies, Failure Reviews, Test Reviews, etc.; 
•    acting as technical responsible for the PA&S service contract providing support to overall transversal activities needed in the Science Operations Department.

In the execution of these tasks, you will be supported by subject matter experts from the Science Operations Department and the ESA Directorate of Technical and Quality Management. 

In addition to the above responsibilities, you will support as necessary the Science PA&S Office (SCI-PQ) for the Directorate of Science’s improvement activities and cross-project coordination, and lay the groundwork for the PA&S requirements of future Science projects.
 

Technical competencies

Behavioural competencies

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

Education

A master’s degree in engineering is required for this post.

Additional requirements

Proven experience in product assurance and safety support for projects is required, including in coordinating experts from different PA&S disciplines;

An understanding of Space Science Operations would be an asset;
 
In addition, you will be expected to be:
 
•    proactive in helping service companies to establish appropriate PA&S practices;
•    willing to work in full coordination with the project engineering team, for example in defining solutions that are acceptable from a quality perspective and compatible with the project and programmatic constraints;
•    capable of managing complex decision-making processes in a fact-based manner while coping with the pressure of dealing with parties holding conflicting positions;
•    motivated to deepen your understanding of technical aspects outside the scope of PA&S disciplines.