Satellite Operations Engineer (Copernicus Sentinel)

Job Introduction

Serco is a specialist at delivering vital services on behalf of European, National and Local Governments.

Serco Europe employ’s a large workforce in Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Switzerland, Germany, Holland, Spain, Italy and the UK.

Our European operations have ca. 2,000 employees delivering critical services to public institutions throughout Europe. 

Role Responsibility

For our activities in EUMETSAT, we are currently looking for four Satelite Operations Engineers (Copernicus Sentinel).

The  Satelite Operations Engineer Team  will  provide support to the Sentinel  Spacecraft Operations Team,  led by the Copernicus Sentinel  Spacecraft Operations Managers, within the Flight Operations Division of the Operations and User Services Department.

The Copernicus Satellite Operations EngineeringTeam shall be involved  in the operations of all Sentinel  3 and 6 spacecraft, and all related ground segment and operational activities, in the various operational scenarios including S3A/B/C and S6A/B in either routine, operational scenario testing, or commissioning.

The successful applicant  will focus his/her activities on  the following:

• Prepare  for, and  execute  all  relevant  Copernicus  Sentinel  routine  operations  in  a SCOS2000  environment,  as  well  as  preparing  for  the  recurrent  satellite  handover activities;
• Perform  the  maintenance,  validation  and  documentation  of  the  space  segment  assets update;
• Interface with all other flight operations teams such as the MCS, mission planning, FD, but also with external operational entities or services;
• Operate  all  satellite  and  FOS/PDGS/PDAB  components  aspects  related  to  operations engineering for the platform, payload and instrument, including data handling, instrument parameter, OBSW maintenance, as well as FDIR and OPS security aspects;
• Plan and schedule the satellite operations in coordination with the others teams;
• Continuous monitoring of Spacecraft performance and status;
• Participate to anomaly investigation and resolution;
• Reporting and analysis of the satellite system performance;
• Proficiency training of the Engineers using the space and ground segment simulators;
• Ensure  the  on-call  operations  engineer  rota,  such  that  safe  and  efficient  operations  are ensured by the Spacecraft Operations Team on a 24/7 basis.

Additionally, the holder of the position will contribute to the following tasks:

• Space segment activity planning/scheduling/uploading;
• Maintenance of space segment and/or recovery from anomaly;
• Maintenance of the set  of operation procedures and documentation including the update and operational validation of procedure and database using MOIS and DABYS;
• Raising and tracking of Anomaly Reports, including investigations into subsystem level anomalies  and  regression  testing  of  associated  fixes.This  may  require  a  close  cooperation with the Post Launch Support office at ESTEC and the satellite Industry.

Successful Candidate

The successful candidate will bring a University  degree  (or  equivalent)  in  a  relevant  discipline,  the  successful applicant shall  have  experience  in  at  least  two  of  the  following  mandatory  skills:

• Experience  of  Spacecraft  Operations  on  Low  Earth  Orbit  (LEO),  3-axis  stabilised spacecraft with responsibility for one or more platform subsystems or instruments during operational validation, commissioning or routine operations phases;
• Experience  of  SCOS2000  mission  control  system  and  use  of  the  MOIS  operations preparation tool;
• Experience in satellite performance monitoring and reporting aspects including anomaly analysis  and  solving  in  liaison  with  satellite  industry,  procedure  change  control  and configuration management processes;
• Experience  in  the  operation  or  development  of  satellite  ground  segment  facilities,  in particular  procedure  development,  monitor  and  control,  mission  planning,  on-board software  management,  performance  analysis,  configuration  management  and  simulator facilities.

Furthermore,  it  would  be  a  distinct  advantage  for  the  successful candidate  to  have  experience  with some of the following:

• Specification of space system and operational concepts, facility requirements;
• Familiarity with On-Board Control Procedure and On-Board Position Scheduler concepts;
• Familiarity with the ECSS Packet Utilisation Standard, customisation and usage;
• Familiarity with system change control and configuration management procedures;
• Data analysis software packages such as MATLAB;
• File parsing languages such as PERL, AWK;
• Use of VBA for development of ad-hoc tools in MS Office applications.

Strong data analysis, processing and synthesis skills are essential and an ability to recognise opportunities  for  improvements  in  areas  of  work  and  implement  appropriate  solutions  is highly desirable.

All Copernicus SOE team  members shall  be able to  conduct all operations in an orderly and disciplined manner, and shall work calmly and correctly under stress.

The official languages of EUMETSAT are English and French. The working language for the position is English and therefore the successful applicant  shall  be able to work effectively in this language  and  have  knowledge  of  the  other.   Good  communication  skills  would  be  also  an advantage.

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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. 

For positions located within the Darmstadt Support Office please note that only applicants with no family affiliation within the Company will be considered.

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You may submit a written request revoking your consent to this agreement at any time.

Package Description

Full details on application.

Relocation assistance provided (if applicable).

About the Company

Serco Services GmbH, part of the Serco group, A FTSE250, Multi-national Service Provider with over 50,000 employees worldwide.

Serco’s space heritage over the last 40 years has placed us in the Space News Top 50 Space Industry Manufacturing and Services Companies - We work alongside EUMETSAT and the European Space Agency, where we are the largest on-site service provider with ca. 300 staff.

What connects the ever growing Serco workforce is a passion for delivering great service – To keep ahead we have to constantly evolve and enhance the way we deliver our services and everyone in Serco has a role to play here.

Serco provide the right environment to encourage ideas and a comprehensive Best Practice support network that enables them to put their ideas into action.

If you share our values then join with over 50,000 colleagues globally who are equally as passionate about delivering great service as you.

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