ERS EO Applications Manager

Description

As ERS EO Applications Manager you will report to the Head of the Enterprise Section in the Climate Action Sustainability and Science Department within the Directorate of Earth Observation Programmes.

The European Resilience from Space (ERS) programme was agreed at the ESA Council at ministerial level in November 2025. This programme is intended to initiate the rapid development and consolidation of European EO capabilities to rapidly address gaps and constraints in the availability of and access to adequate EO-derived information for European security stakeholders. It will support the preparation of a pan-European system of dedicated satellites as well as groups of Member States interested in developing customised EO solutions to support the cooperative mitigation of shared threats.

Under the ERS programme it is planned to define set up and implement a set of large-scale end-to-end services that can demonstrate the impact and benefits arising from ERS programme implementation. A further objective is to establish a robust baseline characterisation of existing assets and capabilities already available within Member States and the priority capability gaps to be addressed.

The portfolio of services will be constructed in cooperation with the operators of European national and private-sector Earth Observation satellite missions and constellations providers of complementary non-EO data and specialist companies providing advanced analytics monitoring and predictive information products and services. The specification and implementation will be carried out in close cooperation with relevant institutional partners in particular the European Union Satellite Centre. All activities will require close cooperation with other departments in the Directorate of Earth Observation Programmes in particular the EO Projects Department and the Mission Management and Ground Segment Department.

Duties

Your tasks and responsibilities will include:

• coordinating a team of technical experts responsible for the definition and implementation of the large-scale end-to-end ERS services that will demonstrate the added value of ERS and establish baseline operations concepts;
• working with key stakeholders in the security community to establish and consolidate requirements for geoinformation products and services and to identify priority gaps in current capabilities;
• devising technical specifications for applications and services to address priority requirements and gaps agreed with relevant stakeholders;
• working in close cooperation with European EO and non-EO industry to establish operations scenarios and technical approaches for the generation and delivery of a portfolio of EO-based applications and services addressing agreed priorities and gaps within the European security community;
• setting up and managing industrial procurements for the implementation of the end-to-end service demonstrations and verification;
• interfacing with the EOP Ground Segment and Mission Management Department to ensure consistency with complementary ground segment capability development activities;
• defining requirements for and managing the necessary ESA resources to support the implementation of the end-to-end service demonstrators;
• contributing to ESA communication efforts promoting EO results mission achievements and EO benefits for society;
• cooperating with other ESA teams working on lower TRL focused R&D on innovative security applications for diverse EO data to stimulate an efficient development cycle.

You will also be responsible for identifying assessing managing and reporting the health and safety risks in your area of responsibility.

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 and professional experience

A masters degree in a relevant discipline such as signal processing electronic engineering Earth science computer science or data science together with at least 10 years of relevant professional experience in EO security applications is required for this post. A PhD is an asset.

Additional requirements

You should demonstrate at least 10 years of experience of working with diverse stakeholders across both the space and security communities.

In addition you should demonstrate the following:

• The potential to coordinate a team of experts;
• The ability to organise their activities and ensure a motivating work environment;
• Leadership capabilities and strong communication skills;
• Strong results orientation with the ability to set priorities and present practical solutions both orally and in writing;
• The ability to manage challenging situations proactively and constructively and to be customer-focused.

International experience would be an asset i.e. outside your home country as well as experience in diverse functional areas relevant to ESA activities.