Product Assurance and Safety Manager

Location
ESTEC, Noordwijk, Netherlands

Description

As Product Assurance and Safety Manager*, you will be assigned to the Product Assurance (PA) Management Section, Quality and PA Management Division, Quality Department, Directorate of Technology, Engineering and Quality.

The Section provides functional support to ESA projects in different programme directorates, as well as to technology development activities, and is also responsible for the development, implementation and maintenance of Product Assurance and Safety engineering and management programmes. It carries out technological research (R&D) in PA&S management, techniques, methodologies and tools. It collaborates on standardisation and training activities.

You will manage the Product Assurance and Safety aspects for exploration payloads in the Directorate of Human and Robotic Exploration Programmes. In that context, you will also report to the Utilisation Team Leaders of the Low Earth Orbit, Lunar and Martian Exploration Groups and to the Human and Robotic Exploration PA&S Team Leader for the specific responsibilities and duties outlined below.

* PA&S covers safety assurance, reliability, availability, maintainability, quality assurance, components, materials and processes, planetary protection and software product assurance.

Duties

Your main tasks and responsibilities will include:

establishing and maintaining the relevant PA&S requirements baseline in compliance with ESA policies;
ensuring the implementation of the PA&S requirements by payload developers, supporting milestone reviews and participating in the process to verify compliance with requirements;
monitoring the implementation of approved payload developers’ plans and specifications, ensuring that adequate resources are deployed for the execution of the PA&S programme;
planning, coordinating and monitoring the assigned PA&S workforce providing support;
participating in the boards for the disposition of deviations from the requirements baseline, and of changes to the agreed design;
representing ESA in the boards established for the disposition of non-conformances and anomalies and the definition and monitoring of relevant corrective and preventive actions (NRB), for failure investigations, and for project technical reviews, such as MRR, TRR, PTR and TRB;
ensuring the implementation of the Reliability, Availability, Maintainability and Safety (RAMS) programme and the Software Assurance programme, including their support to design trade-off decisions and verification of requirements;
monitoring the selection, procurement and use of electrical, electronic and electromechanical (EEE) components and materials, processes and mechanical (MPM) parts;
ensuring the monitoring of the manufacturing, assembly, integration and test activities through mandatory and key inspection points, test witnessing and quality assurance checks, for example;
conducting the acceptance reviews of all contractual deliverable items;
reviewing the safety data packages from payload developers as required, ensuring that they are made available on time to the corresponding Safety Review Panel, and supporting safety reviews and other key events for flight, ground and launch safety;
supervising PA&S activities during the launch campaign;
performing any other PA&S tasks necessary to ensure a safe and successful mission.

In carrying out these tasks, you will receive support from experts from the project team and from the ESA Directorate of Technology, Engineering and Quality.

Technical competencies

Experience in the management of Product Assurance for a space project

Good knowledge of human spaceflight safety certification

Good knowledge of software and RAMS engineering techniques as well as in the areas of PMP and EEE

Experience in the management and monitoring of industrial activities, including participation in audits and reviews

Experience with Space Quality Standards and their implementation

Experience with the application of product assurance tools and methods

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

A master’s degree in a relevant engineering or scientific discipline is required for this post.

Additional requirements

Proven experience in the area of payload development and systems engineering is required.
In addition, you should have:

proven experience of teamwork within a project;
the ability to coordinate people without direct authority;
the ability to drive performance and foster cooperation within and across teams throughout the organisation;
demonstrated relationship management and oral and written communication skills;
excellent cognitive, analytical, delegation, planning and organisational skills;
the ability to anticipate problems, resolve complex issues and relate situations to their context;
the ability to make solution-oriented, pragmatic and timely decisions of a high standard and integrity and to support others, such as team members, upper management and other stakeholders, in this process.

Previous experience working with international partners, such as other space agencies, is an advantage.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusiveness
ESA is an equal opportunity employer, committed to achieving diversity within the workforce and creating an inclusive working environment. We therefore welcome applications from all qualified candidates irrespective of gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, beliefs, age, disability or other characteristics. Applications from women are encouraged.

At the Agency we value diversity, and we welcome people with disabilities. Whenever possible, we seek to accommodate individuals with disabilities by providing the necessary support at the workplace. The Human Resources Department can also provide assistance during the recruitment process. If you would like to discuss this further, please contact us via email at contact.human.resources@esa.int.

Important Information and Disclaimer
In principle, recruitment will be within the advertised grade band (A2-A4). However, if the selected candidate has less than four years of relevant professional experience following the completion of the master’s degree, the position may be filled at A1 level.

Applicants must be eligible to access technology and hardware which is subject to European and US export control regulations & security clearance by their national security administrations.

During the recruitment process, the Agency may request applicants to undergo selection tests. Additionally, successful candidates will need to undergo basic screening before appointment, which will be conducted by an external background screening service, in compliance with the European Space Agency's security procedures.

Note that ESA is in the process of transitioning to a Matrix setup, which could lead to organisational changes affecting this position.

The information published on ESA’s careers website regarding working conditions is correct at the time of publication. It is not intended to be exhaustive and may not address all questions you would have.

Nationality and Languages
Please note that applications can only be considered from nationals of one of the following States: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Canada, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia.

According to the ESA Convention, the recruitment of staff must take into account an adequate distribution of posts among nationals of the ESA Member States*. When short-listing for an interview, priority will first be given to internal candidates and secondly to external candidates from under-represented Member States*.

The working languages of the Agency are English and French. A good knowledge of one of these is required. Knowledge of another Member State language would be an asset.

*Member States, Associate Members or Cooperating States.