Harmony Lead Principal Instrument Engineer

Description

The Harmony mission is an Earth Observation research mission selected as the 10th Earth Explorer mission. The mission is composed of two satellites orbiting in formation with one of the Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellites to address key scientific questions related to ocean, ice and land dynamics. Each Harmony satellite will carry a receive-only synthetic aperture radar (SAR) as its main instrument that will work together with Sentinel-1’s radar. Both Harmony satellites will also carry a multi-view thermal-infrared instrument (TIR) to measure sea-surface temperature differences and cloud-top motion.

During the mission, the Harmony convoy will switch between two formation configurations to address different science goals. The mission will include the first- and fifth-year cross-track interferometric phase covering land application. In the intervening three years, the mission will be reconfigured to fly in a stereo formation over the ocean.

As Harmony Lead Principle Instrument Engineer, you will report directly to the Harmony Payload Manager. You will be responsible for the development of the Harmony thermal-infrared instrument. You will work in close cooperation with other engineers on the Harmony project, and will coordinate specialised technical support from the Directorate of Technology, Engineering and Quality.

Duties

Your principal tasks and responsibilities, within the project guidelines and constraints defined by the Harmony Payload Manager, will include the following:

• contributing to the management of the industrial activities by leading the specification, design, procurement, development and verification/acceptance of instrument hardware and software, including coordination across functional teams, and with scientists of the Mission Advisory Group/end-user organisations/operators throughout the project lifetime, from ITT to flight commissioning; 
• leading and coordinating the instrument requirements and specifications, technical budgets, design drivers, internal and external payload interfaces, spacecraft-level payload performance, operational concepts, including their consistency with the mission requirements, specifications and technical budgets;
• monitoring the industrial progress and design evolution at instrument and equipment level, ensuring it remains consistent with the technical and programmatic requirements;
• monitoring instrument competitiveness/roadmap as necessary and following up all best practice procurements;
• monitoring industrial verification activities to ensure proper verification including resolving non-conformances; supporting the assessment of deviations, waivers;
• providing regular reporting to payload management and identifying technical risk areas, proposing and monitoring mitigation measures;
• contributing to the management of the schedule for TIR and proposing schedule risk mitigation actions;
• coordinating instrument components procured from ESA Member States (such as detectors or a CFI) to ensure compatibility with overall instrument development needs;
• coordinating with product assurance and safety processes for TIR development;
• coordinating the instrument AIV/AIT activities and supporting the spacecraft AIV activities, the preparation of the launch campaign and the in-orbit commissioning of the instrument;
• monitoring the definition and execution of instrument calibration, ensuring availability of relevant data for ground processing;
• ensuring the provision of necessary instrument inputs for the development of level 1 processing tools/algorithms and the associated ground processor prototype; 
• ensuring the timely availability of inputs for on-ground characterisation and in-orbit commissioning campaigns;  
• participating in instrument and satellite project reviews, coordinating all technical aspects relating to the instrument;
• monitoring instrument performance and associated performance assessment tools, as well models used in industry or internally, and supporting analyses of impacts on the mission performance resulting from deviations during the development of the instrument or of the system;
• coordinating a team of engineers and specialised engineering support from the ESA Directorate of Technology, Engineering, Quality and the Directorate of Operations in the relevant areas of responsibility;
• supporting general project reporting tasks, such as weekly reports;
• liaising closely and proactively with the rest of the project team and with colleagues from the Directorate of Technology, Engineering and Quality, and the Directorate of Earth Observation Programmes, as needed.

Your duties may also include supporting other activities of the Earth Observation Projects Department that are within your field of competence.

Technical competencies

Behavioural competencies

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

For more information, please refer to ESA Core Behavioural Competencies guidebook

Education

A master’s degree in engineering or physics is required for this post.

Additional requirements

Project experience on Optical Instrument development, in particular in Phases B2/C/D/E1.
Experience in the procurement, and development for space instruments/payloads.
Strong problem-solving skills to deal with day-to-day challenges, together with demonstrated planning and organisational skills.
Strong result orientation with the ability to set priorities and present practical solutions.
The ability to manage challenging situations proactively and constructively.
Extensive expertise in multiple technical domains (e.g., optics, mechanical, thermal, performance, etc.) and industrial experience at instrument/payload level in the space domain are considered a strong asset.