Description

Launch Cost System Engineer in the Cost Assesment Office, Value Chain Assessment and Asset Management Division, Infrastructure and Value Chain Department, Directorate of Space Transportation.

Duties

Under the direct authority of the Head of the Cost Assessment Office (STS-IVC), you will be responsible for interacting with industry and other internal and external actors to gather and analyse data and produce relevant reports for the Agency. In particular, your duties will include: 

• building strong relationships with industry on launcher production, integration and operations, and serving as an ESA point of contact for industry for the related cost data and implementation of programmes in which the Cost Assessment Office is involved. 
• negotiating with industry on understanding and covering relevant costs.
• leading the Office’s analyses related to assets (costs, CO2 footprint).
• finding creative solutions for technical calculations and large-scale ROM estimates where specific data is scarce or difficult to obtain.
• determining cost overruns in transition with industry, creating reports on incurred costs for distribution within the Directorate of Space Transportation as well as to delegations and the relevant industry, and working with Directorate of Commercialisation, Industry and Competitiveness (CIC) and Project Control to raise work orders accordingly. 
• functionally managing internal teams (such as support from the Directorate of Technology, Engineering and Quality, or CIC) for specific technical activities.
• interfacing with the Industrial Auditing and Return Division concerning audits and establishing industrial geographical return in exploitation, data on ESA rates, and cost structures as audited, including regular visits to industry.
• proposing industrial, process and supply chain improvements. 
• supporting the creation of processes/methods to gather supplier contract and process activity data, designing control systems to minimise and resolve process and project issues. 
• maintaining a good understanding of the launcher industry’s exploitation, contractual and financial data and helping to develop, support and maintain the industry’s exploitation cost files related to the transition and stabilised exploitation phases. 
• assisting in assessing justifications concerning changes to production/exploitation contracts. 
• conferring with internal and external stakeholders about specifications, industrial capacities and capabilities, and the status of projects and BAU.
• reviewing schedules, process flows, etc. to understand methods and activities in operations, integration and services, and how to improve efficiency and eliminate waste. 
• writing and establishing report elements, such as proposals and progress reports, which will be directly usable in the ESA reporting system. 

Technical competencies

Behavioural competencies

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

Education

A master's degree in a relevant domain is required for this post.

Additional requirements

You should also have:

• experience in an engineering field related to the position’s duties.
• a superior level of technical writing skills and command of the English language – both written and spoken. 
• experience/highly developed capability in complex information data mining, analysis and reporting. 
• the willingness to travel often.