VN 25/29 Mission Planning Software Engineer
The EUMETSAT Mission Planning System (MPS) is a critical asset of the EUMETSAT Ground Segment for the operations of Earth Observation missions.
The Mission Planning Software Engineer will be part of a dynamic international team responsible for a broad spectrum of Mission Operations Applications.
The successful candidate will ensure evolution and maintenance of the MPS generic elements and their instantiation for LEO and GEO space missions in development or already in orbit.
Close collaboration with the Flight Control Teams will offer her/him the enriching experience of seeing the end-use of the systems under her/his responsibility.
Duties
- Responsible for the definition, development, maintenance and evolution of scalable, reliable, software solutions as per established roadmaps for future mission control applications.
- Collaborate closely with various stakeholders, including end-users and cross-functional teams, to support the maintenance and development of modern mission planning software applications.
- Define and manage procurements of industrial service and development contracts and their execution.
- Identify opportunities for optimisation and promote innovation within the engineering team, by staying up-to-date with the latest industry trends and emerging technologies, to drive product excellence and cost effective solutions into space operation.
LOCATION Darmstadt, Germany
QUALIFICATIONS
Engineering degree in a relevant discipline (e.g. computer science, software engineering).
LANGUAGES
Candidates must be able to work effectively in English and have some knowledge of French.
DEADLINE
21 May 2025
Duties
- Responsible for the definition, development, maintenance and evolution of scalable, reliable, software solutions as per established roadmaps for future mission control applications.
- Collaborate closely with various stakeholders, including end-users and cross-functional teams, to support the maintenance and development of modern mission planning software applications.
- Define and manage procurements of industrial service and development contracts and their execution.
- Identify opportunities for optimisation and promote innovation within the engineering team, by staying up-to-date with the latest industry trends and emerging technologies, to drive product excellence and cost effective solutions into space operation.
Skills and Experience
- Five yearsโ experience in the development or maintenance of medium-large scale software systems in a high availability (24 h/day) environment;
- Application software lifecycle management covering phases from specification to maintenance and decommissioning (e.g. requirements engineering, design, development, integration, testing and operation);
- Proven experience with modern software technologies (e.g. web, cloud, containers); modern architectures (e.g. microservices) and practices (e.g. DevSecOps).
- Good interpersonal and communications skills, team spirit and service orientation;
- Strengths in synthesising and presentation of complex problems and solutions.
Knowledge and experience in the following areas/systems would be a distinct advantage:
- Generative AI technology constructs and frameworks (e.g. RAG, LLMs, Langchain, Langgraph)
- Mission control functions within a typical earth observation mission namely: systems such as Mission Control Systems, Flight Dynamics Systems, Mission Planning Systems, and Satellite Simulators, with a particular emphasis on expertise in mission planning.
Employment Conditions
The initial contract will be of 4 yearsโ duration, with subsequent 5 year contracts being awarded thereafter, subject to individual performance and organisation requirements. There is no limit to the amount of follow-up contracts a staff member can receive up to the EUMETSAT retirement age of 63 and there are certainly opportunities to establish a long career perspective at EUMETSAT.
This post is graded A2/A4 on the EUMETSAT salary scales. The minimum basic salary for this post is EURO 7,340 per month (net of internal tax but excluding pension contribution and insurances) which may be negotiable on the basis of skills and experience. The salary scale provides for increments on the anniversary of taking up employment, and scales are reviewed by the EUMETSAT Council with effect from 1 January each year. In addition to basic salary, EUMETSAT offers attractive benefits. Further information, including salary details, is available on the EUMETSAT web site.
EUMETSAT is committed to providing an equal opportunities work environment for men and women.
Please note that only nationals of EUMETSAT Member States may apply. The EUMETSAT Convention requires that Staff shall be recruited on the basis of their qualifications, account being taken of the international character of EUMETSAT.Applicants are required to disclose all nationalities they have held and currently hold in order to determine whether they can exercise the role as advertised in compliance with applicable export control regulations.
About EUMETSAT EUMETSAT is Europeโs meteorological satellite agency. Its role is to establish and operate meteorological satellites to monitor the weather and climate from space - 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. This information is supplied to the National Meteorological Services of the organisation's Member States in Europe, as well as other users worldwide.
EUMETSAT also operates several Copernicus missions on behalf of the European Union and provide data services to the Copernicus marine and atmospheric services and their users.
As an intergovernmental European Organisation, EUMETSAT has 30 Member States (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom.)
- Five yearsโ experience in the development or maintenance of medium-large scale software systems in a high availability (24 h/day) environment;