Engineering Internship

The European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere has as its primary mission to build and operate state-of-the-art facilities for the advancement of astronomical research. A strong Research & Development (R&D) programme is therefore at the core of ESO's activities.

What are we looking for?

Dynamic young individuals ready to take an active part in the ESO R&D projects with a good deal of team spirit, curiosity and eagerness to learn.

What are we offering?

• Several possibilities to make an internship of 4 to 6 months in the frame of the last year of your graduate studies at ESO Garching in an engineering field;
• An international, multi-disciplinary environment, situated on the Garching science campus close to Munich, Germany, next to the best German universities, world-renowned research centres and 3 recent Nobel prizes;
• Working in collaboration with ESO's partner institutes and high-tech industries in the ESO member states;
• Three observatories at the forefront of ground-based astronomy and of technology: La Silla, Paranal and ALMA. And one of the most challenging telescopes under construction: the Extremely Large Telescope;
• A decent cost-of-living compensation including lodging in an ESO apartment if available.

Current ESO active R&D projects:

• Advanced visible and infrared detectors for astronomical instrumentation (modelling, testing, development of CMOS fast detectors, curved detectors...);
• Adaptive optics and related components including laser guide stars, deformable mirrors, wavefront sensing, tomographic techniques, interactions with segmented mirrors...;
• System simulation and modelling including deformable mirrors, telescope seeing effects, exposure time calculators, instruments, model-based system engineering;
• Optical metrology and photonics for (sub-)micrometric large structure characterisation, interferometry;
• Astrophotonics and integrated optics;
• Mechanics and cryogenics;
• Real-time computing.
• Machine learning applied to different fields.

For more details and the list of internship subjects please see the following https://www.eso.org/sci/activities/fellowships-and-studentships/engstudentfellow.html.

Applications

If you are interested in enhancing your early career through an internship at ESO, then please apply via our recruitment portal https://recruitment.eso.org/.

Include the following documents in your application:

• A motivation letter including an outline of why you wish to join ESO and which of the proposed subjects interests you (maximum one page);
• A curriculum vitae with an outline of your technical/practical experience.

To be eligible, you have to be registered in an academic institution (university or technical college) in one of the ESO member states.

The internships are expected to begin in the first half of 2026.

For any additional questions please contact: Francoise Delplancke-Ströbele at the e-mail address below.

ESO Values

An important element in any successful employment relationship is harmony in values between an organisation and its people.

The ESO values are:

ESO strives for excellence through innovation.

ESO provides outstanding services to its communities.

ESO fosters diversity & inclusion.

ESO believes in the key role of sustainability for its future.

Achieving the above are recognized as only possible on the basis of personal values and attitudes that we expect from our employees: respect, integrity, accountability, commitment, collaboration, and clear & open communication.

Applicants to any ESO role are asked to reflect on their affinity with these values and advised they may be asked about them if called for interview.

Diversity

ESO has established diversity as an important value of the Organisation, is committed to providing an equal opportunities environment and is actively seeking to promote a diverse, equitable and inclusive workforce. Please visit https://www.eso.org/public/about-eso/sustainability/dei-at-eso/ for further details.

Nationality

No nationality is in principle excluded from employment at ESO, however, recruitment preference will be given to nationals of our Member States, host states and strategic partners: Australia, Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Chile, irrespective of gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity or religion.