Product Assurance & Safety (PA&S) Engineer
Noordwijk, NL
Location
ESTEC, Noordwijk, Netherlands
Description
You will be assigned to the Navigation (NAV) Product Assurance and Safety Office (TEC-QN) to work as Product Assurance and Safety Engineer, supporting assigned projects in the Resilience, Navigation and Connectivity (RNC) Directorate. You will report hierarchically to the Head of the NAV Space Segment Product Assurance and Safety Unit and functionally to the Project Manager(s) of the project(s) you will be supporting. Initially, you will be assigned as support for the Galileo Second Generation project.
For the maintenance of professional standards, the implementation of ESA’s general Product Assurance and Safety policy and contributions to corporate tasks (such as reviews, standardisation, alerts, lessons learned, etc.), you will report to the Head of the Quality Department through the Head of the NAV Product Assurance and Safety Office.
Duties
Your specific responsibilities and duties will include:
- defining or supporting the definition of general and project-specific programmatic and technical requirements in compliance with the applicable product assurance and safety (PA&S) requirements, the PA&S Office’s approach and the ESA PA&S policy;
- reviewing contractors’ plans, specifications and effort proposed for implementing the project’s PA&S programme;
- guiding and monitoring the implementation of PA&S requirements by contractors in order to assess performance and effectiveness, participating in project reviews and addressing any preventive or corrective actions;
- planning, coordinating and monitoring any PA&S support for the project team;
- representing ESA in the Boards established for reviews (failure reviews, test reviews, etc.) and in the disposition of non-conformances/anomalies, etc.;
- guiding and monitoring the application and procurement of electrical, electronic and electromechanical (EEE) parts, materials and processes and controlling implementation of applicable requirements;
- ensuring the implementation of the software PA requirements;
- ensuring the preparation of design trade-offs, analyses and reports using reliability, availability, maintainability and safety (RAMS) data to support project decisions;
- monitoring the manufacturing, integration and test activities with quality assurance audits, mandatory and key inspection points, test witnessing and configuration inspections;
- supporting the definition of acceptance requirements, as necessary, and participating in acceptance reviews of contractually deliverable items;
- reviewing contractors’ PA&S analyses and safety data packages, and ensuring that they are available on the planned dates to support safety review schedules, in coordination with the safety authorities;
- providing PA&S support for project assembly, integration and verification activities;
- providing PA&S support during launch, validation, operation and service activities, as relevant. This may involve participation in launch campaigns;
- supporting the identification and management of lessons learned and contributing to the quality management system, as required;
- supporting security activities as needed.
When performing these tasks, you will work in close coordination with the project PA&S Manager(s) and will be supported as relevant by experts from the project team and the ESA Directorate of Technology, Engineering and Quality.
Technical competencies
Behavioural competencies
Result Orientation
Operational Efficiency
Fostering Cooperation
Relationship Management
Continuous Improvement
Forward Thinking
For more information, please refer to the ESA Core Behavioural Competencies guidebook
Education and professional experience
A master's degree in an engineering subject is required for this post together with four years of relevant professional experience.
Additional requirements
Previous experience in one of the PA&S technical domains significant experience as a PA&S Engineer working on space projects involving industry and institutional partners and the use of ECSS as well as of other industrial and commercial standards in space projects would be considered an asset.
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
In principle, recruitment will be within the advertised grade band (A2-A4). However, if the selected candidate has less than four years of relevant professional experience following the completion of the master’s degree, the position may be filled at A1 level.
Applicants must be eligible to access information, technology, and hardware which is subject to European or US export control and sanctions regulations & eligible to acquire the security clearance by their national security administrations.
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.
Note that ESA is in the process of transitioning to a Matrix setup, which could lead to organisational changes affecting this position.
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 are only 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, the United Kingdom and Canada, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia.
According to the ESA Convention, staff shall be recruited on the basis of their qualifications, taking into account an adequate distribution of posts among nationals of the 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.