Deputy Information Systems Programme Manager

European Southern Observatory

• Garching, BY, Germany €5,000 - €10,000 per month

ESO's Information Systems Programme (ISP) leads the planning and implementation of projects for a specific group of ESO's organisation-wide information, documentation, and configuration systems, aligning them with organisational needs, managing project execution and resourcing, and driving modernisation and digitalisation across the organisation. Upon project completion, the delivered systems are handed over to the operational owners.

Currently within the portfolio are projects for ERP (Oracle Fusion), Enterprise Asset Management (Maximo), Content and Document Management, Web Content Management (Adobe AEM), Digital Engineering Data (including PLM, CAD, resulting in links with BIM and Digital Twin at ESO observatories).

To support these ISP transformation initiatives, ESO is seeking a Deputy Programme Manager to work alongside the Programme Manager to drive the related projects ensuring coherence, integrations, governance, and sustainable delivery. This is a cross-domain role that requires hands‑on work from concept through to build and delivery.

Main Duties And Responsibilities

Solutioning & Processes

• Provide end-to-end leadership across projects within the ISP.
• For the various projects, define target application landscapes, integrations, data flows, lifecycle management, and system dependencies.
• Work with ESO's IT department, quality management and organisational stakeholders to align business processes and requirements with system architectures and platform capabilities.

Data & Governance

• Lead and oversee data lifecycle approaches, including: data migration, data cleansing, enhancement and transformation, validation, reconciliation, and traceability across systems.
• Collaborate with ESO IT and the organisational system owners for the definition of system-of-record, data ownership and governance/operating models.

Programme & Project Support

• Support the programme manager and project leads with architectural guidance, solution assurance, and dependency management.
• Support programme-level decision-making, risk management, and prioritisation.
• Act as a senior point of contact for external system integrators/vendors.
• Contribute to roadmap development, investment planning, and long-term platform sustainability for the projects with the ISP.

Reports To

Information Systems Programme Manager

Key Competences And Experience

• Minimum of 5-years experience in leading programmes/portfolios or large-scale projects, delivering demonstrable success in business transformation and digitalisation, including initiating change and introducing new enterprise platforms.
• Track record of successfully implementing and scaling enterprise and/or engineering platforms across complex environments, including: ERP (Oracle Fusion or equivalent Tier-1 ERP), Enterprise Asset Management, Content and Document Management, Web Content Management, engineering data environments (PLM, CAD, BIM, or Digital Twin).
• Hands‑on experience in process design and optimisation.
• Excellent collaboration and communication skills, with the ability to engage effectively with both technical and non technical stakeholders.
• Strong problem solving, influencing and negotiating skills.
• Comfortable working in a diverse, international, and multicultural organisation.

Qualifications

University degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or a related discipline, or equivalent professional experience.

Language Skills

Excellent command of English both written and verbal. A sound working knowledge of Spanish is desirable.

Remuneration And Contract

We offer an attractive remuneration package including a competitive salary (free of income tax for applicants from ESO member states), comprehensive pension scheme and medical, educational and other social benefits, as well as financial help in relocating your family and support to place your child/children in daycare.

Our Salary Structure is based upon a range of career paths which reflect the nature and level of our jobs. Each career path is made up of two or three grades which are used to further reflect experience.

ESO aims to support members of personnel in maintaining a good work‑life balance between their professional and private life. ESO is also committed to offering family‑friendly support, creating a work environment and policies which allow staff to balance their professional and private responsibilities through flexible working arrangements and financial support for families.

The contract is for a fixed term duration of three years and is subject to successful completion of the probation period. There may be a possibility of extension(s) subject to individual performance and organisational requirements, and as defined in the applicable policies and staff rules and regulations. For any further information, please visit ESO's conditions of employment.

Please note that the contract policy and, in particular, the regulations concerning fixed-term and indefinite contracts are currently under review which may lead to changes in the contractual conditions applicable to this position.

Duty Station

Garching near Munich, Germany with regular duty trips to all ESO sites in Chile.

Career Path

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