Description

Reporting directly to the Director of Technology, Engineering and Quality (D/TEC), you, as Head of the Systems Department, will be a member of the Directorate’s management team and participate in the decision-making process for all major activities covered by the Directorate.
One of your key tasks will be to ensure the well-being and motivation of the Department’s workforce, encouraging the flow of information and proactively coordinating with the Directorate’s other departments.
In addition, you will take an active role in fostering the development and training of the workforce with a view to maintaining the Agency’s high level of competence in the Department’s technical disciplines.
Along with the Director of D/TEC and your peers, you will make an enthusiastic contribution to ESA’s Agenda 2025. This will involve participating in the Agency’s transformation towards greater efficiency, matrix-strengthening, digitalisation and calculated risk-taking in order to manage the challenges that lie ahead for ESA.
You will be responsible, with a team of Division, Office and Project Heads, for the management of activities, technical facilities and laboratories, as well as for maintaining excellence in the technical competencies of the Department.

Duties

Reporting directly to the Director of Technology, Engineering and Quality, and within the technical fields described above, your main tasks and responsibilities will include:

• leading and developing a large international team of system engineers, software system engineers, cost engineers, attitude and orbit control engineers, and project and system managers.
• providing state-of-the-art engineering support to ongoing and future ESA programmes and to European industry.
• supporting the implementation of the ESA transformation, acting as an ambassador for change and taking a leading role in the various work streams involved in matrix enlargement, mobility and people development.
• defining state-of-the art system engineering, control and software processes and tools.
• formulating a vision for technology development.
• influencing and prioritising European space R&D roadmaps by applying systems engineering views.
• stimulating the evolution of engineering activities, laboratories and the ESTEC Concurrent Design Facility.
• supporting the preparation of ESA’s future activities by implementing early technology activities as well as feasibility and Phase A studies through the Discovery and Preparation Programme.
• implementing the In-Orbit Demonstration and small missions projects delegated to TEC.
• taking an active role in interacting with projects through technical reviews, procurement activities, in-orbit performance reviews, development of lessons learned and engineering standards.
• managing and leading the Department’s cost centre.

You will be required to liaise with other ESA directorates to support their needs and strategy and to interact with entities outside the Agency (Member State delegations, industry, academia and international partners) in order to promote and develop ESA activities.

Technical competencies

Behavioural competencies

Result Orientation
Operational Efficiency
Fostering Cooperation
Relationship Management
Continuous Improvement
Forward Thinking

Education

A master’s in a relevant engineering discipline plus extensive experience in one or more of the technical domains covered by the Department is required for this post.

Additional requirements

• Solid and proven experience in managing space activities in a multi-project environment, leading large teams and managing a wide range of infrastructure, such as technical facilities and laboratories.
• Openness to change and ability to lead change processes in a complex and versatile environment. Experience of change management in large organisations is a plus.
• Proven track record of driving team performance, fostering cooperation across teams and stakeholders and developing and motivating people.
• Excellent communication, relationship management, ambassadorship and leadership skills are required, as well as knowledge of the internal operations of the Agency or a similar organisation.
• A demonstrated ability to synthesise technical and programmatic information, provide vision for technology development and stimulate the evolution of engineering activities is an essential prerequisite.

You should also have:

• the ability to provide strategic direction to the individuals and teams within the Department and to relate team objectives to the overall, evolving organisational goals and context;
• the ability to anticipate problems, resolve complex issues and relate situations to their context;
• the ability to make solution-oriented, pragmatic and timely decisions of a high standard and with integrity and to support others (team members, upper management, other stakeholders) in this process.

International experience, i.e. outside your home country, as well as experience in diverse functional areas relevant to ESA activities would be an asset.