ALTIUS Mission Performance Engineer

Aurora is an established supplier of skilled manpower to ESA and in particular at ESTEC and ESAC. Aurora has the opportunity to expand our support to ESA in the domain of EOP- Engineering Support to Earth Observation.

Happiness of our employees has proven key to obtaining excellent results and a client who also regards us highly for excellent service.

Overview

The contractor will provide support to Earth Observation In the Engineering Support Domain.

The ALTIUS Project aims at the development of an Earth limb sounder mission based on a small satellite. Its main objective is the monitoring of the distribution stratospheric ozone at high vertical resolution in support of long-term monitoring and operational services. ALTIUS Measurements of concentration profiles of other atmospheric species as well as of aerosol extinction vertical profiles are also envisaged in the frame of monitoring and scientific activities. The holder of this post will contribute to all aspects (project internal activities, monitoring/review of the relevant industrial activities, interaction with Mission Users and Scientists) relevant to the mission performance of the ALTIUS mission up to Level 2.

The post holder will report to the ALTIUS System and Engineering Manager.

Specific Tasks and Responsibilities

Maintenance of mission and system level requirements, monitoring and critically analysing the requirement allocation, their flow down to the relevant contributors, the associated margins, their evolution and their verification, in the following areas.

• • Observation requirements and mission data products requirements.
  • End-to-End simulator and Ground Processor Prototype (GPP).
  • Internal and External characterisation and calibration of the instrument.

• Support the payload team for aspects relevant to instrument performance requirements flow-down and instrument performance verification, including relevant models and tools.
• Follow up the End to End Simulator and GPP procurement, verification/validation and acceptance activities. Acquire working knowledge of the tools for test data generation purposes and internal mission level verification activities. Develop and maintain additional mission performance mathematical models and tools to support the assessment of the relevant industrial development activities.
• Maintain mission level performance and error budgets, and analyse their compliance with the end-to-end mission performance requirements and propose corrective actions in case of deviation.
• Monitor and review the definition and implementation of the ALTIUS characterisation, calibration and validation plans and follow up the specification, procurement and verification/validation of the relevant equipment and activities.
• Support the preparation, execution and analysis of the relevant in-flight CALVAL operations during the commissioning phase.
• Support Payload Data Ground Segment (PDGS) development for what concern the Ground processor aspects and cross verification activities of the PDGS operational ground processor against the GPP.
• Support the running of the ALTIUS Mission Advisory Group (MAG) for what concerns mission & instrument performance aspects, including end-to-end mission performance verification and compliance status.
• Interact with the ALTIUS Mission Users Community and Scientific Community for what concerns Mission definition, Products definition and mission & instrument performance aspects.
• Support the System and Engineering Manager and the other ALTIUS project team members in all aspects related to mission performance, as necessary for the effective execution of the ALTIUS project.

The Mission Performance Engineer will cooperate closely with the ALTIUS Instrument team in the execution of the relevant tasks. Furthermore she/he will be supported by and is expected to closely cooperate with specialist engineers from the ALTIUS team, from the Earth Observation Projects Department and from the Directorate of Technical and Quality Management (D/TEC) as appropriate.

Specific Qualification requirements

• Applicants for this post shall have a university degree (at least Master’s degree) or equivalent qualification in a relevant physical science or engineering subject.
• The applicants shall have demonstrated experience in performance assessment of optical instrumentation for atmospheric observation including image processing.
• Experience working with Earth limb observation systems as well as knowledge of aerosols and ozone observational data are assets.
• The candidate shall demonstrate to be proficient with programming languages relevant to the implementation and maintenance of the system performance models (e.g. MATLAB and python).
• The candidate shall possess solid analytical skills together with broad, system-oriented thinking, and the ability and motivation to rapidly learn and switch within a wide range of application domains. The candidate shall have the capability to critically analyse the work performed by industry in the relevant areas, identify problems and propose corrective
  actions.
• The candidate shall demonstrate good communication skills, ability to work both autonomously and as part of a team within the boundaries of assigned tasks and a stringent schedule, and to establish and maintain effective working relationships with the outside world (Industry, MAG and User Community).
• Ability to work both autonomously and as part of a team within the boundaries of assigned tasks and a stringent schedule.
• Proficiency in English language (spoken and written) is essential.

Legal and Security Requirements

• All applicants must be legally allowed to work in The Netherlands.
• Applicants are required to provide a copy of their passport and degree certificate. Aurora will validate the Degree with the issuing University and provide evidence to ESA.
• Prior to issuing a letter of employment the applicant shall provide to Aurora a recent official document declaring that they are of good conduct from the country where currently resident.

Location

The work will be performed at the European Space Technology and Research Centre (ESTEC) at Noordwijk, The Netherlands.

Contract

• The selected candidate will receive good remuneration  in line with ESA Job Class.
• Will be registered for both social security and tax in the Netherlands.
• The standard working hours are 40 per week. There are 12 public holidays and an additional 30 annual days holiday.
• Training to improve efficiency and provide strength for future career are of course included.
• Aurora assist with relocation both with support and financially.
• Aurora contributes to a company pension scheme.

To be considered for this Position

Prior to 7 May  2021, please apply via our Job Application form quoting EOP-143 (RT-C/EOP-B-00143 ) as reference.

Aurora will agree conditional employment terms and conditions with candidates before presenting them by 10 May  2021, 13.00 hours.

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