Assistant Controller (ESAC)

Job Introduction

Serco, a prominent player in the Space industry with over 40 years of experience, has a robust partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA), particularly through their work at the European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) in Spain. Serco's collaboration with ESAC involves supporting a range of scientific missions, including data processing for missions like Gaia, Solar Orbiter, and Euclid. They also provide critical support for planetary missions such as BepiColombo and ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter. This partnership underscores Serco's commitment to advancing Space science and technology, making it an ideal environment for professionals seeking to contribute to ground breaking Space projects.

On behalf of our team in Spain, Serco is looking for an Assistant Controller who will be supporting our activities within ESAC. The position will be a fixed term contract of 6 months, with hybrid working style and job location ESAC.

Main Responsibilities

• Support the planning, execution, and monitoring of project and programme activities including scheduling, cost control, manpower allocation, and procurement. Assist in developing and maintaining programme-level and procurement execution plans.
• Assist with long-term and in-year resource planning across manpower, cost, and procurement dimensions. Monitor resource consumption, forecast deviations, and propose corrective actions. Contribute to the preparation and monitoring of CaC (Cost-at-Completion) and related cost-tracking tools.
• Support for year-end financial closure processes.
• Support procurement processes from tendering to contract execution. Assist in the financial evaluation of proposals, milestone tracking, and contract change control. Maintain procurement plans and ensure alignment with ESA procurement standards.
• Detailed management of Change Requests, CCNs, and related lifecycle in ESA tools.
• Maintain accurate and up-to-date data across ESA corporate tools such as ESA-P and SAP. Support the creation, modification, and monitoring of related project and contractual records.
• Generate reports and dashboards for internal and external stakeholders, including financial summaries. Ensure consistency and traceability in all project-related reporting.
• Coordinate with Contracts Officers, Technical Officers, and cross-functional stakeholders. Participate in meetings, maintain records (e.g., minutes of meetings, change logs), and support action item follow-up.
• Contribute to  risk management activities and continuous process improvement. Assist in the operation and refinement of project-related tools, systems, and procedures.
• Managing industrial return policy alignment and compensation tracking.
• University degree (Bachelor) in Business Administration (or Communications as relevant), with relevant experience.

Successful Candidate

• At least 3 years of relevant work experience.
• Understanding of financial planning and controlling and/or management of activities and resources in aerospace industry.
• High capacity to interact and communicate effectively with cross-functional team, from engineering, technical and business domains.
• Good sense of contacts and communications, ability to interface at appropriate level with relevant actors within and outside of the Directorate.
• Good knowledge of supporting project-oriented environment.
• Reliability, rigor and initiative in the execution of the assigned work.
• Proactive attitude to solving problems, identify priority actions and to handle high workload.
• Ability to work both autonomously and as part of a team within the boundaries of assigned tasks and stringent schedule.
• Proficient in the English language, both written and spoken.
• Candidates must be eligible to work in the EU.
• Excellent interpersonal skills are needed, together with a high degree organizational and communication abilities, and comfortable with working in a diverse and multinational team environment.

Desirable experience:

• Experience as a proficient user of SAP and familiarity with relevant ESA corporate applications ( e.g. ESA-p) is an asset.
• Ability to rapidly understand and adapt to ESA specific context and environment including ESA corporate IT applications.
• Familiarity with PowerBI, Excel, and advanced reporting platforms.
• Experience with ESA in relevant activities is an asset.
• Familiarity with ESA working environment in a similar position is a distinct advantage.

On offer:

• Competitive Salary.
• Great career opportunities in the Space industry
• Comprehensive package of benefits offered by the company, such as life insurance and health insurance.
• Engaging company events to foster team spirit.
• Hybrid working model to support work-life balance.
• Opportunity to work in an international environment.

Relocation:

• Spain is known for its vibrant culture, including flamenco music and dance, bullfighting, and world-renowned festivals. Spanish workers enjoy a minimum of 30 calendar days of paid vacation annually, plus numerous public holidays, ensuring plenty of time for rest and travel. Spain offers generous maternity and paternity leave, as well as other family-friendly policies that support parents in balancing work and family life.
• The Spanish social security system provides various benefits, including pensions, unemployment benefits, and support for families, contributing to a sense of security for workers. Spain is known for its pleasant Mediterranean climate, with warm summers and mild winters, making it an attractive place to live year-round.

About the Company

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 ESA and NASA. Serco offers space capability 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.

Why should you join Serco ?

At Serco not only is the nature of the work we do important, everyone has an important role to play.

Meaningful and vital work - You’ll contribute to methodologically intercepting challenges whilst achievements will also be recognised and celebrated.

A world of opportunity - You’ll be wholeheartedly supported with development and career progression

Great people - You’ll become an integral member of a well-defined and supportive team who believe passionately in the value of our work. We are a company passionate about diversity and inclusion. 

We are diverse and inclusive organisation

At Serco, we see people first and foremost for their performance and potential and we are committed to supporting the needs of all our colleagues. It’s a mix of people from different backgrounds, experiences and opinion that keeps our culture strong and vibrant.

We believe in equity so we strongly encourage applications from a diverse range of candidates. Disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the job are encouraged to apply and demonstrate their abilities in an interview. We also welcome a conversation about any adjustments that would make the interview process more accessible for you. Wherever possible we are open to discussions around flexible working and we operate a hybrid work structure in many of our business areas.

In the UK we are proud to be a Disability Confident Leader in the government’s scheme and hold the Gold Inclusive Employer Standard; in Belgium we are partner of Diversicom and member of Charter der Vielfalt in Germany.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to reach out to The Serco Europe Recruitment Team

Important:

Any offer of employment is contingent upon you providing documents to verify your identity and employment eligibility, as required by law.

Applicants are reminded that they will be requested to produce such documentation during the recruitment process.

Please contact a member of the recruitment team if you require further details of acceptable types of documentation required for verification of identity and work authorization. 

Data Protection:

For more information on how the personal data in your application is process, please see the link Data Protection policy here.