Description

You will be assigned as integrated support from the Product Assurance and Safety Department, Directorate of Technology, Engineering and Quality (D/TEC) to the Directorate of Navigation (D/NAV) and will report to the Head of the Navigation Product Assurance and Safety Office for the specific responsibilities and duties outlined below.
For the maintenance of professional standards, the implementation of the ESA general Product Assurance and Safety (PA&S) policy and for contributions to corporate tasks, such as reviews, standardisation, alerts and lessons learned, you will report to the Head of the Product Assurance and Safety Department through the Head of the Navigation Product Assurance and Safety Office.

Training and familiarisation with the parent Department's mandate, processes and procedures will be provided at the start of this assignment.
 

Duties

As Head of the Galileo Ground Segment Product Assurance Unit, you will be responsible for managing a team of PA&S engineers assigned to the Galileo project. The specific responsibilities and duties of the Unit include: 

•    managing the workforce of the Unit with accountability for all resources and activities delegated, developing the expertise and technical competence of its members while also taking account of their motivation, aspirations and professional development;
•    managing the integrated and functional support staff assigned to the Unit from the Product Assurance and Safety Department, coordinating the work of the Unit’s members and monitoring their performance;
•    anticipating and resolving sensitive or difficult situations, liaising with HR as required;
•    contributing to the continuous improvement of working procedures and reflections on how the Unit’s role and activities can evolve;
•    establishing and maintaining the particular project PA&S requirements baseline for the Galileo Ground Segments in compliance with the ESA general Product Assurance and Safety policy; 
•    reviewing contractors’ plans, specifications and effort proposed for the execution of the project PA&S programme; 
•    guiding and monitoring the implementation of PA&S requirements by contractors in order to assess performance and effectiveness, participating in design reviews and directing the necessary preventive or corrective actions;
•    representing ESA in the boards established within the project for the disposition of non-conformances, failure reviews and test reviews, for example;
•    ensuring the implementation of the software PA and software configuration management requirements baseline across the Galileo Ground Segments;
•    managing the process for the approval of technical waivers and deviations for the Galileo Ground Segments;
•    supporting the definition of the formal acceptance requirements and the conduct of acceptance reviews of all assigned contractual deliverable items;
•    ensuring the preparation of design trade-offs, analyses and reports using RAMS data to support project decisions;
•    supporting, as required, activities relating to standardisation, accreditation and certification;
•    supporting security activities for the Galileo Ground Segment as appropriate;
•    supporting the maintenance of the D/NAV quality management system.
 

In the execution of these tasks, you will be supported by experts from the Galileo project team and the ESA Directorate of Technology, Engineering and Quality.

In addition to your project responsibilities, you will support the NAV PA&S Office activities as necessary, including improvement initiatives and coordination meetings. 
 

Technical competencies

Behavioural competencies

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

Education

A master’s degree in engineering or technical sciences is required.

Additional requirements

A background in space systems is required; experience in the security domain is desirable.

Several years of experience in the management of PA for a large project is required, together with a good knowledge of RAMS engineering techniques, preferably in the domain of aerospace development.

Previous management experience is an asset; otherwise, demonstrated potential for the management of a team is required.

You should have good leadership, interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to work autonomously, effectively and cooperatively in a diverse and international team environment and to define and implement solutions in line with project, team and individual objectives. In addition, you should have good analytical, organisational and reporting skills, a proactive attitude to solving problems and an interest in innovative technologies.

Security clearance from the relevant national security administration is required.