Young Graduate Trainee in Earth Observation Data Processing and Management

Young Graduate Opportunity 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 post is classified F1 on the Coordinated Organisations’ salary scale .

Location

ESRIN, Frascati, Italy 

The Mission Management and Ground Segment Department in the Earth Observation Programmes is responsible for the management of the EO missions handled by ESA in their operational phase and for the design, development and operations of the related Ground Segments as well as the overall data management.

The portfolio of missions ranges from the EO science missions (e.g. Earth Explorers) to EO operational missions (i.e. within the Copernicus programme); furthermore the Department is significantly involved in across-mission innovative data management activities (e.g. DestinE) in collaboration with European institutional partners.

EO science missions
Within the Ground Segment Department ESA manages industrial contracts for the implementation of mission specific elements and the operations of mission-generic services (ensuring e.g. Data acquisition, Data processing, Data access, Data archive) for Earth Explorer, Earth Watch, Third Party and Heritage missions in order to provide high quality scientific data to the Earth Observation scientific community.

In order to best serve the needs of such community, ESA is constantly looking for opportunities for innovation in terms of functionalities, services and technologies while securing the operational robustness of the Ground Segments for EO science data generation and management; in particular the ESA EO Ground Segment is being extended by means of IT collaborative environments deployed over cloud infrastructures where users can access a wide range of EO data, resources and tools, visualize and manipulate data and collaboratively work using existing algorithms or uploading/developing new ones along the principles of open science, running processes at various degree of complexity, and finally sharing results (e.g. information, algorithms, or processed data) with the objective to boost advancements in the EO science domain.

EO operational missions and Third Party programmes
Copernicus is the European Union's flagship programme dedicated to Earth observation, jointly funded by the European Union and ESA. It is today the largest provider of Earth Observation data. The Copernicus programme provides Sentinel satellite data relevant to an incredible range of environmental topics. Within the Ground Segment Department ESA manages a series of operational services (Data acquisition, Long Term Archive, Data processing, Mission Planning, Data access services, etc) allowing to deliver critical images and measurements to users from a fleet of (currently) six in-orbit Copernicus Sentinel satellites. In addition, the operations of the future Copernicus Expansion and Next Generation missions are being prepared, introducing innovative space to ground technology and significantly extending the portfolio of available observations and data products, with the associated novel algorithms, data processors and applications.

Destination Earth (DestinE) is an innovative and ambitious initiative of the European Union aiming at creating a digital model of the Earth to monitor the effects of natural and human activity on our planet on a large scale, to which ESA is contributing by developing and operating an open environment where related application and services are made available. DestinE will build on top of Copernicus and other relevant programmes to deliver analysis derived from Digital Twin Models (or replica). Using innovative Earth system models, cutting-edge computing, satellite data and machine learning, DestinE will allow its users to explore the effects of climate change on the different components of the Earth system, together with possible adaptation and mitigation strategies.

Both Copernicus and DestinE make massive data volumes freely available to users through the internet and accessible via cloud computing platforms. Notebook environments, data visualisation tools and software toolkits are provided open and free to users to ease the access to the data. Digital Dashboard are created to allow the monitoring of the Copernicus and DestinE operations and associated performance.

Both programmes are managed with common approaches by the ESA staff in the Earth Observation Ground Segment Department and implemented via outsourced contracts to industrial partners.

You are encouraged to visit the ESA website: http://www.esa.int

There are several opportunities for Young Graduate Trainees within the EOP-G Department, to experiment with the services made available to users for the access and exploitation of EO data as well as for the deployment and operations of user applications.

As “technologically savvy and motivated” yet not necessarily “domain expert” users of earth observation data, you will first familiarize with the activities in the Department portfolio and acquire relevant knowledge on the Earth Observation ground segment for data generation and management.

With the understanding of the architecture, interfaces (e.g. web interfaces, APIs,.) and exposed functionalities of the different services in place you will be asked, based on your self-motivation, background and competences:

• To experiment, validate and benchmark the services and interfaces (web interfaces, APIs, etc) offered to users,
• Familiarise with the collaborative environment, in particular with the utilisation of Jupiter Notebook, Python, Tensorflow and Pythorch technology (e.g. by testing the definition of new code and sharing of results)
• To provide feedback and propose recommendations on the usability of these services and interfaces,
• To imagine, propose and implement some demonstrative use cases/projects to illustrate how the available services and interfaces may be used, both in terms of configuration/setup and data manipulation/visualization,
• To experiment with different data formats and data conversions and compression techniques for ESA (e.g. Biomass, Aeolus and SWARM and Sentinel) products,
• To imagine and propose some use cases for the use of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning techniques in the handling of the data, and to define and demonstrate them by implementing a proof of concept,
• Possibly to assist users in the implementation of their activities,
• Possibly to contribute to the enhancement of the open source software of these major initiatives.

In doing so you will have the possibility to learn about the main ESA EO, Copernicus, and DestinE programmes and will also be able to take an insight of the industrial processes through which ESA manages large scale contracts and the behind the scenes workings of complex systems that support these programmes.

Knowledge of relevant technical domains

Relevant experience gained during internships/project work

Breadth of exposure coming from past and/or current research/activities

Knowledge of ESA and its programmes/projects

Result Orientation

Operational Efficiency

Fostering Cooperation

Relationship Management

Continuous Improvement

Forward Thinking

You should have just completed, or be in the final year of your Master’ s degree in technical and scientific discipline (i.e. Physics, Computer Science, Engineering)

You should have good interpersonal and communication skills and should be able to work in a multicultural environment, both independently and as part of a team.

You should also have :

• Computer programming skills are needed, in particular a good level of familiarity with Python would be advantageous (with evidence of programming projects). Further knowledge and background in IT, cloud computing, as well as in earth observation data exploitation or remote sensing would be an asset.

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.

During the interview motivation and overall professional perspective/career goals will also be explored.

Other information

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

For further information on the Young Graduate Programme please visit: Young Graduate Programme andFAQ Young Graduate Programme

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 email [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, and the United Kingdom. Nationals from Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia, as  Associate Member States, or Canada as a Cooperating State, can apply as well as those from Bulgaria, Croatia and Cyprus as European Cooperating States (ECS).

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 candidates from under-represented Member States *. 

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. 

*Member States, Associate Members or Cooperating States.