Geospatial Application and Service Engineer

Vacancy in the Directorate of Earth Observation Programmes.

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.

This is a non-renewable post for a limited duration until 31 December 2026 and is classified A2-A4 on the Coordinated Organisations’ salary scale .

This opportunity is open for the specific needs of a National Project. Accordingly, the external candidate selected for this post will continue to be considered an external candidate for the purposes of any future applications to the Agency.

Location
ESRIN, Frascati, Italy 

Geospatial Application and Service Engineer in the IRIDE program (the Earth Observation Component of the Italian PNRR programme, to which ESA is providing technical assistance), in charge of the technical specification and follow-up of the service implementation for the IRIDE Service Segment which comprises eight institutional service domains, namely:

1. Coastal service and maritime-coastal monitoring
2. Air Quality Service
3. Ground Motion Service
4. Monitor service coverage and land use (Land Cover/Use)
5. Hydrometeorological Service
6. Water Resources Service
7. Emergency service
8. Security service

You will report to the IRIDE Programme Manager in the Italian PNRR Programme, Earth Observation Projects Department, Directorate of Earth Observation Programmes and will report functionally to the IRIDE Service Manager.

You will be devoted to designing vertical geoinformation applications for monitoring, analysis, prediction and evaluation of territorial elements and phenomena in various application domains (including emergency management, agriculture, territorial planning management, resilience and adaptation to climate change, management of natural resources, security and maritime surveillance) which can be characterised through the processing and analysis of satellite data integrated with in situ observations and other data.

You will also be able to understand the specific application context (such as the existing legislation, end-user working practices, and so on) and, based on the analysis of user needs, identify and design services capable of providing added value through end-to-end operational workflows that combine remote sensing data with other relevant data (such as meteorological data, socio-economic data, prediction model outputs and relevant data from third-party databases).

In particular you will:

• interface with IRIDE users and stakeholders across different application sectors for requirements collection;
• design end-to-end service value chains addressing IRIDE thematic sectors;
• manage the implementation of tools and workflows to generate information products, thematic maps, analytics and service exploitation platforms;
• design a Service Level Agreement compliant with user needs and service specifications;
• act as Technical Officer for service value chain development and delivery in the domains of environmental, agricultural, security and emergency management applications within IRIDE Service Segment implementation projects.

Proven experience in the design and development of geospatial vertical applications and services based on EO data

Knowledge of SAR and Optical Remote Sensing data and processing techniques

Advanced knowledge of EO exploitation platforms and services in the abovementioned vertical application domains

Knowledge of application needs and practices in many of the thematic domains addressed by the IRIDE Service Segment

Experience in developing geoinformation processing chains exploiting both raster and vector data, using commercial and open source software packages

Solid experience in GIS and remote sensing data analysis

Result Orientation
Operational Efficiency
Fostering Cooperation
Relationship Management
Continuous Improvement
Forward Thinking

A master’s degree in a STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) discipline, with a preference for environmental engineering, Earth science or geography is required for this post.

You should also have:

• basic knowledge of commercial cloud environments (e.g. AWS, Google Cloud)
• basic knowledge of spatial databases (including non-relational databases, data lakes, etc.)
• knowledge of project management
• knowledge of Big Data frameworks, processing platforms, microservices architectures
• knowledge of remote sensing optical/SAR/hyperspectral/multispectral processing algorithms
• knowledge of artificial intelligence pipeline design and implementation

​Other information

For behavioural competencies expected from ESA staff in general, please refer to the ESA Competency Framework .

For further information please visit: Professionals , What we offer  and FAQ    

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.   

The Agency may require applicants to undergo selection tests.

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 at [email protected] .

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Please note that applications are only 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.

In accordance with the European Space Agency’s security procedures and as part of the selection process, successful candidates will be required to undergo basic screening before appointment conducted by an external background screening service. 

Recruitment will normally be at the first grade in the band (A2); however, if the candidate selected has little or no experience, the position may be filled at A1 level.