JOB DESCRIPTION
SatCen is seeking suitable candidates for a permanent position of GIS DevOps Officer and to establish a reserve list, encompassing diverse technical profiles to guarantee broad coverage and flexibility. Candidates are not expected to meet all the desirable requirements listed, as the aim is to identify a range of complementary profiles rather than one individual who covers every technical area.
The GIS DevOps Officer will work in the Quality Assurance and Service Development Team in the Operations Division to support the development, implementation and maintenance of GIS tools, services and related IT infrastructure, in close collaboration with the IT Division. Responsibilities will be tailored to the candidate’s experience and technical expertise. SatCen is seeking candidates for the profiles described below. Please indicate in your application which profile(s) best align with your skills and interests.
Profile 1. GIS Technician and Developer Specialist
This profile will support current GIS developers and contribute to the continuous improvement of GIS operations.
It will involve hands-on experience in GIS tools, both as a user and developer.
The ideal candidate will have a background and experience in geospatial information, including:
• Mapping and visualisation
• Creating and transforming vector data and managing raster datasets
• Optimisation of GIS workflows
• Developing custom GIS tools and scripts to enhance and extend existing GIS software capabilities
• Building GIS web applications and services from a GIS user perspective
• Understanding machine learning (AI/ML) frameworks
Profile 2. GIS and IT Support Specialist
This profile will work closely with the GIS Administrator and the IT Division to ensure that all the Operations’ Geospatial Infrastructure operates correctly.
It will involve hands-on experience with GIS Architecture, both as a user and as an administrator.
The ideal candidate will have a background in computer science with knowledge of geospatial information, including:
• Maintaining and deploying enterprise GIS systems
• Supporting software development through the setup and management of GitLab and CI/CD pipelines
• Developing software solutions, including outside GIS frameworks
• Contributing to the automation and adaptation of container-based technologies
• Understanding and developing within machine learning (AI/ML) frameworks.
Key Responsibilities:
• Task Support and Execution: Assist the Team Leader and Deputy Team Leader to plan and oversee GIS related projects. Take responsibility for assigned tasks, ensuring adherence to quality standards and deadlines.
• Requirement Gathering: Support the collection and organisation of Imagery Analysts’ requirements to define and improve tools, processes, and workflows, enhancing operational production.
• GIS infrastructure: Assist in maintaining and updating GIS infrastructures, including web services and geospatial databases, ensuring data is accurate, up to date, and well organised for efficient analysis.
• Support Process Optimization: Contribute to the implementation of new tools, techniques, and methodologies to enhance services. Assist in documenting standard procedures to ensure consistency in data management. Identify opportunities for improvement and support the Operations Division’s technical development.
• Quality Control Support: Contribute to quality assurance processes by reviewing and validating data outputs to ensure compliance with organisational standards and best practices.
• System and Software Proficiency: Demonstrate proficiency in GIS, IT and developers’ tools and programming languages.
• Collaboration and Learning: Work closely with more experienced staff, assisting them with tasks and learning from their expertise. Participate in team activities and contribute to projects as required.
• Collaboration Across Teams: Support cross-functional projects and initiatives within Operations Division and integration of other sources through inter and intra-divisional collaboration.
• Training and Briefings: Participate in internal and external training sessions and mentorship programs to enhance personal expertise while supporting knowledge sharing within the team.
• Additional Responsibilities: Take on additional tasks as needed to support the team, contributing to the successful execution of projects and achievement of goals.
QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE
Only applications meeting all essential selection criteria will be assessed.
• Essential:
• Education: Completed secondary education attested by a diploma giving access to higher education (EQF 5).
• Experience: At least 1 year of professional experience in GIS-related areas, as described in the Key Responsibilities section.
• Desirable:
• Education: Additional training or studies in fields related to those described in the Key Responsibilities section.
• Experience: Experience working in international and multicultural environments.
SKILLS AND COMPETENCES
• Essential:
• Team Collaboration: Ability to work collaboratively in team settings, including contributing to joint outputs and managing differing perspectives.
• Commitment and Reliability: Demonstrated ability to meet deadlines, follow through on assigned tasks, and deliver work to agreed standards.
• Proactive Mindset: Ability to identify potential issues and propose practical solutions without being prompted.
• Continuous Improvement: Demonstrated commitment to improving work processes, outputs, or analytical quality over time.
• Communication Skills: Excellent verbal and written communication skills, enabling effective interaction with stakeholders at all levels, including users, data providers, and management.
• Desirable:
Candidates are not expected to meet all the requirements listed below.
• Desktop GIS: Experience with desktop GIS solutions (e.g., ArcGIS Pro, QGIS).
• Geospatial Data Management: Experience analysing, creating, and managing vector and raster data, including satellite imagery; experience applying these skills to IMINT/GEOINT workflows is considered an asset.
• ETL Tools: Familiarity with ETL tools (e.g., FME).
• Software Development: Experience developing software solutions using programming languages related to geospatial systems, primarily Python, but also others including C#, JavaScript, Java, SQL, HTML5, and CSS, for GIS applications supporting both desktop and web environments.
• Enterprise GIS: Experience with enterprise GIS systems at user and/or administrator level (e.g., ArcGIS Online, ArcGIS Enterprise, GeoServer, MapServer).
• Version Control and CI/CD: Experience with GitLab or CI/CD pipelines; experience applying these in GIS processing workflows is an asset.
• Automation and Containerisation: Knowledge of automation and containerisation tools (e.g., Puppet, SaltStack, Chef, Ansible, Docker, LXC).
• Container Orchestration: Knowledge of the orchestration and deployment of container-based applications, primarily using Kubernetes.
• IT Collaboration: Experience collaborating with IT or system administration teams for software deployment.
• AI/ML Applications: Experience developing or applying AI/ML applications using ML frameworks (e.g., TensorFlow, PyTorch), particularly for tasks such as object detection in imagery and using large language models (LLMs) to generate information about detected objects.
• SatCen Procedures: Familiarity with the methodologies, procedures, and workflows of the SatCen Operations Division.
All essential and desirable criteria are evaluated so as to identify the most suitable candidates.