ESA Graduate Trainee in Artificial Intelligence Engineering for Verification Data
Noordwijk, NL
Location
ESTEC, Noordwijk, Netherlands
Our team and mission
You will join the Galileo Programme Office, which is part of the Galileo and European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) Programme Department within the Directorate of Navigation at the European Space Agency. You will work in the System Assembly, Integration, and Verification (SAIV) team, in close cooperation with engineering, performance, and test teams involved in the Galileo Second Generation programme.
Overall goal
The goal of the System Assembly, Integration, and Verification (SAIV) team is to ensure that the current and next generation of the Galileo system operates correctly, safely, and reliably. This includes confirming that all system elements work together as intended, that system performance meets mission requirements, and that the evolution of the system does not disrupt existing services.
Galileo is Europe’s global satellite navigation system. It provides precise and autonomous positioning, navigation, and timing services worldwide, as well as a search and rescue service.
Team mission
The team is responsible for qualifying the Galileo system through a step-by-step and flexible development approach. This includes the ground control and mission infrastructure, as well as the new Galileo Second Generation satellites. The qualification process covers system architecture improvements and service evolution compared to the first-generation Galileo system.
Main activities
The main responsibilities of the System Assembly, Integration, and Verification (SAIV) team include:
- leading system compatibility test campaigns that verify the correct interaction between the satellite, the Galileo ground infrastructure, and user receivers. These tests confirm full end-to-end system functionality before satellite launch;
- leading radio frequency compatibility tests to ensure that transmitted and received signals behave correctly and do not interfere with system performance;
- performing compatibility testing of the Galileo ground segment at both interface level and functional level;
- conducting overall system performance testing to verify that the system meets its expected accuracy, availability, and reliability targets;
- conducting in-orbit test campaigns after satellite launch to confirm that all satellite subsystems function correctly in the space environment;
- managing in-orbit validation campaigns to verify and validate mission-level performance requirements once the satellites are fully operational in orbit.
Role within the programme
The System Assembly, Integration, and Verification team (SAIV) plays a central role in protecting service continuity and overall system performance. It works closely with engineering, security, deployment, and performance teams to ensure that system upgrades and new capabilities are introduced without degrading existing Galileo services.
You are encouraged to visit the ESA website: http://www.esa.int
Field(s) of activity/research for the traineeship
You will contribute to an exploratory research and development activity focused on the use of large language models, a type of artificial intelligence designed to understand and generate structured text, in support of engineering and verification activities for space missions.
Your main activities will include:
- exploring how artificial intelligence can support the automated creation, update and consistency checking of engineering traceability data and verification matrices;
- investigating methods to detect gaps, inconsistencies or missing links in engineering documentation using artificial intelligence;
- supporting the generation of structured document outlines related to assembly, integration and verification activities, based on existing engineering data;
- exploring the use of artificial intelligence to assist testing activities, in particular by analysing test logs, interface data and operational outputs, without replacing engineering judgement;
- working with existing internal artificial intelligence platforms and collaborating with other teams working on similar topics at system and segment level.
Through this traineeship, you will gain hands-on experience in applying artificial intelligence to real engineering problems, understand system engineering and verification processes in a space operations context, and develop skills in research, prototyping and cross-team collaboration.
Technical competencies
Behavioural competencies
Result Orientation
Operational Efficiency
Fostering Cooperation
Relationship Management
Continuous Improvement
Forward Thinking
For more information, please refer to ESA Core Behavioural Competencies guidebook
Education
You should have just completed, or be in the final year of your master’ s degree in one of the following fields:
• Computer Science
• Artificial Intelligence
• Data Science
• Software Engineering
• Systems Engineering
• A related engineering or scientific discipline
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 also have:
- strong interest in artificial intelligence and its application to complex engineering systems;
- programming skills, preferably in Python or a similar language;
- ability and motivation to work independently on exploratory research topics;
- interest in system engineering, verification and engineering documentation;
- good communication skills and ability to work in an international team;
- willingness to collaborate across teams and to explore innovative, non-standard solutions.
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, religious beliefs, age, disability or other characteristics.
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.
*Member States, Associate Members or Cooperating States.