(Senior) Engineer, Spacecraft Product Assurance, IRIS2

PROGRAMME DESCRIPTION

IRIS² is the new European Union secure satellite constellation. This project is the European Union's answer to the pressing challenges of tomorrow to provide secure connectivity services and enhanced communication capacities to the EU and its Member States as well as to governmental users, private companies and European citizens while ensuring high-speed internet broadband to cope with connectivity dead zones.

SES – together with other consortium partners and core members - was selected by European Commission to build and to operate the IRIS² multi-orbit satellite constellation.

The IRIS² team enters the next project phase and there is a strong need for support for all the activities around service provisioning and products that the system can offer in the future.

ROLE DESCRIPTION 

We are looking for a (Senior) Satellite Product Assurance (PA) Engineer to support the development and delivery of Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellite systems with IRIS², ensuring mission reliability in a demanding radiation and long-lifetime environment.

You will be responsible for establishing and enforcing product assurance processes across the full satellite lifecycle — from design and parts selection through integration, launch, and early on-orbit operations. The role is critical to ensuring constellation availability, long mission life, and compliance with customer and regulatory requirements typical of MEO communication systems.

This position interfaces daily with systems engineering, payload, propulsion, manufacturing, and supplier teams to proactively identify risk and safeguard mission success.

As a (Senior) Engineer, Spacecraft Product Assurance, IRIS2, you will be responsible for :

• Establishing and maintaining the particular project Product Assurance & Safety (PA&S) requirements baseline for the Space segment in compliance with applicable policy;
• Reviewing contractors’ plans, specifications and efforts proposed for the execution of the project PA&S programme;
• Guiding and monitoring the implementation of PA&S requirements by contractors in order to assess performance/effectiveness, participating in design reviews and managing the necessary preventive or corrective actions;
• Representing SES on the boards established within the project for dealing with of non-conformances, failure reviews, test reviews, etc.;
• Ensuring implementation of the software PA and software configuration management requirements baseline across the Space segment;
• Monitoring integration and test activities with quality assurance audits, mandatory and key inspection points, test witnessing and configuration inspections;
• Supporting the definition of the formal acceptance requirements and conduct of acceptance reviews of all contractual deliverable items;
• Ensuring the preparation of design trade-offs, analyses and reports using RAMS (Reliability, Availability, Maintainability and Safety) data to support project decisions;
• Supporting security activities for Space segment as appropriate;
• Contributing to the transfer of technical knowledge and lessons learned across the Company.
• Representing SES in PA meetings such as MPCB, PCB and RCBs leading the SES team in the review and approval of EEE parts and Materials, Mechanical Parts and processes
• Guiding and monitoring the implementation of the Cleanliness and Contamination control plan, including identification of cleanliness sensitive items, definition and finalization of a cleanliness budget, implementation of a monitoring program and “deployment” of dedicated cleanliness protection means during the AIT phase

In the execution of these tasks, you will be supported by experts from the Project team.

COMPETENCIES

• Knowledge of Quality Management, Product Assurance and Safety disciplines;
• Experience in the management and monitoring of industrial activities, including participation in reviews;
• Project support experience in a relevant domain;
• Experience with Space Quality Standards and their preparation and implementation;
• Experience with the design, development and application of product assurance tools and methods;
• Experience in the management of PA for a large project;
• Good knowledge of software and RAMS engineering techniques, preferably in the domain of aerospace development;
• Experience in the security domain is an asset;
• Be eligible for security clearance by the national security administration.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE

• Master’s degree or equivalent experience in aerospace, aeronautics or telecommunications fields
• Minimum of 5 years of relevant experience
• Proven experience in leading product assurance for spacecraft / satellites
• Proven experience in managing system integration and ensuring compliance with design requirements.
• Fluency in English (any other language being an asset)

OTHER KEY REQUIREMENTS

• Eligibility for ESA/EU SECRET personal security clearances is essential. Candidates must be prepared to undergo a security clearance procedure, as this position may require holding such a clearance
• Willing to work at least 60% onsite from office
• Travel as required for project realization purposes

The job responsibilities outlined in this document are not exhaustive and may evolve over time and be reviewed according to business needs.