Spacecraft Operations Engineer

Serco has made significant contributions at ESA's European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, supporting a wide range of space missions and projects. Serco provides essential engineering, technical, and management services, playing a key role in logistics and operational support for missions. Their expertise in spacecraft operations, ground systems, and data processing has earned them recognition, including 'Best in Domain' awards from ESA. Their long-standing partnership with ESA reflects their commitment to excellence and innovation in the space sector, ensuring successful mission outcomes and advancing space exploration.

This service provides Operations Engineering support to ESA’s Future Studies activities at ESOC, contributing to the feasibility, preliminary design, and operations preparation of future, experimental, and pre-operational missions. It supports ESA’s OPS-O department in collaboration with institutional and private partners, helping define and validate operational concepts, procedures, and ground segment preparations for next-generation missions. The work includes active participation in concurrent engineering efforts to ensure mission readiness and operational excellence.

On behalf of our team in Germany, we are looking for an experienced Spacecraft Operations Engineer.

As Spacecraft Operations Engineer, you will concentrate your activities on the following :

• Primary areas of responsibility for this service are to participate in the ESA Concurrent Design Facility (CDF) studies, providing Ground Segment & Operations expertise to the studies, including the development of requested material for presenting during the session,s and contributing to the trade-off exercises
• The service team will also be involved in supporting pre-phase A to B1 Studies allocated to the unit (typically 1 or 2 per year), by providing Ground Segment and Operations expertise when required, developing operations assumptions, operability requirements, and operations cost estimates, and participating in progress meetings
• Operations Engineering Services may also be involved in supporting special projects or studies allocated to the uni,t providing Ground Segment and Operations expertise to non-traditional missions or non-traditional spacecraft (eg. cubesats)
• The service provider may be requested to assume the responsibility and perform activities for additional or bespoke subsystems or systems within the scope of general SOE services, including test, validation, and operation of the Mission Control System, Mission Planning System, and Simulator

The activities to be supported by the service are (depending on the phase of the mission) :

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Essential Requirements

Desirable Requirements :

About Serco :

Serco is a leading Space Services Provider with thousands of skilled resources that has supported over 50 space missions on behalf of more than 10 Space or Government agencies around the globe, including the likes of ESA, CNES, EUMETSAT, EUSPA, ASI and NASA.

We offer space capabilities across the full space lifecycle from satellite testing to Launch services, LEOP to spacecraft operations, space surveillance to data management, and supporting downstream application development. With over 55 years history in the space sector Serco is well placed to contribute to National strategies across Europe and the globe

We work within the heart of the space sector so understand the challenges our customers face. When it comes to recruitment we are experts in sourcing the very best talent within space engineering, earth observation, satellite communications and cyber security.

We have placed hundreds of people from post graduates through to C-suite executives into space agencies, satellite operators, manufacturers, system integrators, consultancies, earth observation / remote sensing, launch providers and much more.