Mission Planning Software Engineer

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 experience of seeing the end-use of the systems under the engineer’s 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

09 June

Skills and Experience

• Five years’ 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 presenting complex problems and solutions.

Additional Advantage

• Generative AI technology constructs and frameworks (e.g., RAG, LLMs, Langchain, Langgraph).
• Mission control functions within a typical Earth Observation mission, namely 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 years’ duration, with subsequent 5‑year contracts awarded thereafter, subject to individual performance and organisational 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, offering 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 per month (net of internal tax but excluding pension contributions and insurances), negotiable based on skills and experience. Salary scales provide for increments on the anniversary of employment and are reviewed annually by the EUMETSAT Council. In addition to basic salary, EUMETSAT offers attractive benefits. Further information, including salary details, is available on the EUMETSAT website.

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, taking account of the international character of EUMETSAT.

Applicants are required to disclose all nationalities they have held and currently hold to determine whether they can exercise the role as advertised in compliance with applicable export‑control regulations.

#J-18808-Ljbffr