Engineer, Maintenance Planning IRIS2

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 connec-tivity 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 activi-ties around service provisioning and products that the system can offer in the future. 

ROLE DESCRIPTION 

This role is a fixed-term 12 month contract. You will be part of an agile project organization where a flexible way of working and an adaptive mindset is required.   

You will be responsible for designing, documenting, and coordinating the maintenance strategies and processes for IRIS2’s ground segment, including gateways, network infrastructure, and facility re-quirements. By working closely with cross-functional teams, this role ensures that all preventive, cor-rective, and predictive maintenance activities are clearly planned and aligned with IRIS2’s operational and service-level objectives.

Strong synchronization with SES-internal departments, collaboration with consortium partners, and frequent exchanges with the institutional customer are of essence in the role. Agility in the production of internal and deliverable documentation is fundamental to achieve.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES

Maintenance Strategy Development

• Contribute to the definition of maintenance teams, plans and schedules for ground segment compo-nents (e.g., antennas, RF chains, networking, data centres).
• Collaborate with system engineers and facility managers to incorporate facility requirements (power systems, HVAC, building infrastructure) into an integrated maintenance strategy.

Documentation & Process Creation

• Create structured maintenance concepts and standards that address both routine and emergency scenarios.
• Support the establishment of clear escalation paths, reporting methods, and approval processes to ensure consistency and accountability in maintenance activities.

Preventive & Predictive Maintenance Planning

• Coordinate with equipment vendors and internal engineering teams to incorporate vendor recom-mendations and performance data into maintenance schedules.
• Analyse usage trends, condition monitoring data, and known failure points to develop predictive maintenance tasks, minimizing downtime and optimizing resources.

Corrective Maintenance

• Define documents to track contingency plans and troubleshooting procedures for unexpected outag-es or system faults.
• Define responsibilities and workflows to enable swift response and remediation of issues, reducing service impact.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Interface with engineering, operations, procurement, and quality assurance teams to gather input on ground segment needs and constraints.
• Work with budget owners and supply chain managers to build plans for spare parts inventories, ven-dor contracts, and service-level agreements.

Documentation 

• Contribute to the production of comprehensive internal and deliverable documentation, along with the guidelines provided by the customer, as interpreted and assigned by the workstream lead

COMPETENCIES

• Ability to work independently and with limited supervision in complex environments, e.g. project or matrix organizations
  • Flexibility and adaptability in response to changing projects role, requirements and environments
  • Ability to think strategically and align project goals with organizational objectives
  • Excellent problem-solving and decision-making abilities
  • Effective communication skills, both written and verbal
• Ability to work under pressure and manage multiple priorities
• Ability to anticipate and to understand challenges and to find solutions
• High level of technical skills across many different areas (modems, antennas, RF components, Test and measuring instruments, power etc.)
• Good organizational skills and attention to details, ability to multitask in a fast-paced environment
• High sensitivity to customers’ needs and capacity to find solutions to complex technical problems and overcome obstacles to deliver a high quality of service 
  

QUALIFICATIONS, BACKGROUND AND EXPERIENCE

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, RF Engineering or Telecommunications, or similar
• Minimum 3 years of relevant engineering experience in the satellite communications domain as Development, Systems Engineer or Operations Engineer, Test & Integration Engineer, and/or NOC/Teleport Senior Operator
• Hands-on experience in RF measurement techniques, test and verification of ground stations and auxiliary systems
• Highly experienced in developing and maintaining high availability satellite or telecommunications systems using manned and unmanned facilities
• Experience in the application of VSAT baseband equipment, gateway antenna systems and associat-ed equipment
• Understanding of MEO and LEO telecommunications satellite technologies and systems
• Good command of MS Office package (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Visio), AutoCAD, Excel VBA
• Fluency in English (any other language being an asset)
  

OTHER KEY REQUIREMENTS

• The candidate must be eligible for a “SECRET” security clearance, in accordance with the “loi modifiée du 15 juin 2004 relative à la classification des pièces et aux habilitations de sécurité”, as well as EU/ESA/NATO equivalents
• Willing to work at least 60% onsite from office
• Travel as required for project realization purposes