Experienced Java Engineer for Herschel Common Science System (SOE-40)
Aurora is an established and approved supplier of skilled manpower to ESA and in particular at ESTEC and ESAC. There is a great opportunity to join the Aurora team supporting ESA at ESAC, near Madrid, for the following work. In particular Aurora currently has 11 engineers supporting various missions at ESAC.Overview and Tasks
The Herschel Space Observatory is the fourth `cornerstone' mission in the ESA science programme. With a 3.5 metre infrared telescope, it will be the largest space telescope ever launched. The launch is planned for 16 April 2009, after which it will be operated as an observatory with observing time available to the international scientific community. The lifetime of the mission will be approximately four years, being limited by supply of the liquid helium for cooling the instruments.
The observatory will be operated from the European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC), near Madrid, Spain. The scientific ground segment software is known as the Herschel Common Science System (HCSS). It handles submission of observing proposals via the internet, scheduling of observations on the spacecraft, commanding of the instruments and spacecraft and processing of the resulting scientific data, which are then placed in a web archive for access by the astronomical community. This software was developed by ESA in collaboration with the instrument teams. It is written in Java, having about 4000 classes and half a million lines of code and uses a multi-Terabyte Versant object database.
We are looking for an additional team member to join the core HCSS software maintenance team at ESAC. In practice, maintenance means not only fixing problems with the existing software, but also improving it, adapting it and developing new tools as new requirements are identified.
Specific qualification requirements
All applicants must hold a valid passport from a country of the European Union and be legally able to work in Spain.
- A university degree in computer science, physics, electronic engineering, or equivalent.
- must have a solid background in object-oriented software development with at least 3 years of active Java experience,
- must have a solid background in working with a large and complex software system under full configuration control,
- must have a solid background in working with UNIX/Linux systems,
- should enjoy working in an international environment and a small team (the Herschel Operations Team consists of around 50 people, 6 of which will form the core- HCSS software maintenance team).
- should enjoy working directly with their “customers” (the Operations Team, the Community Support Team, the Instrument and Calibration Scientist Team, etc),
- should be prepared to occasionally work unusual hours when critical problems need to be resolved quickly.
Specific knowledge is required in the following areas:
- Java / JDK 1.6 including swing
- J2EE / EJB / JSP
- Object orientated design
- Unix / Linux systems including shell programming
- Databases (preferably object databases)
- JBoss, Tomcat or similar
- JUnit and testing in general
- Eclipse
- CVS
A knowledge of astronomy / physics / satellites would be a strong asset.
Location
The work will be performed at the ESAC, the European Space Astronomy Centre, at Villafranca del Castillo, near Madrid, Spain.
It may also require occassional attendance at meetings in other European countries.
Contract
The work is expected to be for several years with a starting date around April/May 2009.- You will be registered for both social security and tax in Spain.
- The standard working hours are 40 per week. There are 12 public holidays and an additional 27 annual days holiday.
- Training to improve efficiency and provide strength for future career are of course included.
- Aurora can assist financially and provide information for relocation.
Summary
Aurora's successful formula is ensuring the happiness of both employees and customers.
To be considered for this Position
Provide prior to 26 February 2009 a complete and detailed Recruitment Form to Mr. Alex Jeanes, user alexjeanes @ aurora.nl quoting reference SOE-40.
Aurora will agree conditional employment terms and conditions with candidates before presenting their recruitment form to ESA on 3 March 2009. ESA will select the candidates for interview at ESAC and Aurora will provide for interview travel costs. Should ESA select you then a formal letter of employment shall be issued with an agreed start date.