Ground Stations Service Level Manager / Lead Engineer in Darmstadt

Spektrum supports apex purchasers (NATO, UN, EU, and National Government and Defence) and their Tier 1 supplier ecosystem with a wide range of specialist services.

We provide our clients with professional services, specialised aerospace and defence sales, delivery, and operational subject matter expertise.

We are looking for personnel to join our team and support key client projects.

Who we are supporting

EUMETSAT (the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites) is an intergovernmental organisation established in 1986, which provides its 30 member states with weather and climate-related satellite data, images and products – 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

EUMETSAT's headquarters are in Darmstadt, Germany.

The primary objective of EUMETSAT is to establish, maintain and exploit European systems of operational meteorological satellites, taking into account as far as possible the recommendations of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

The data generated by EUMETSAT’s satellite systems and the derived products are supplied to the National Meteorological Services of the organisation's Member States in Europe, as well as to other users world-wide.

A further objective of EUMETSAT is to contribute to the operational monitoring of the climate and the detection of global climate changes.

Role Background

The EUMETSAT Operations and Services to Users Department (OPS) is responsible for exploiting EUMETSAT’s operational satellite systems and delivering agreed data, products and support services which fulfil the requirements of European and WMO users.

Currently EUMETSAT operates several missions, including the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG), the EUMETSAT Polar System (EPS), the Meteosat Third Generation (MTG), the EUMETSAT Polar System Second Generation (EPS-SG) and the Copernicus Sentinel-3 and Sentinel-6 space and ground (satellite) systems.

In addition, EUMETSAT is contributing to the operations of several other missions, such as JASON, and some other 3rd-party missions.

The focus of routine operations at EUMETSAT is the provision, by effective utilisation of all elements of the space and ground systems, of timely and reliable operational services to the users.

Additionally, the OPS Department supports development activities led by the Programme Preparation and Development Department (PRD) – currently these encompass activities related to recurrent satellites of the Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) and EUMETSAT Polar System Second Generation (EPS-SG), EPS-Sterna and the Copernicus European CO2 monitoring mission (CO2M).

Support to development of new missions like EPS-Aeolus and others.

Within the OPS Department, the Real-Time Services and System Operations (RSO) Division is responsible for the end-to-end system and mission operations, including ground stations, data and product processing, communications, and dissemination of the data and products to users.

RSO also supports the Programme Preparation and Development Department (PRD) during the development of new programmes .

Within the RSO Division, the Contractor will provide services to the Operations Ground Stations and External Interfaces (GSEI) Team.

This includes ground stations operations, monitoring, reporting and validation.

About the Team

You will join a wider Ground Stations Operations Engineering team supporting EUMETSAT’s operational and future GEO and LEO satellite missions.

Working alongside engineers with complementary levels of experience and technical expertise, you will contribute to ground-station operations, anomaly investigation, system upgrades, operations preparation, verification and validation, commissioning, technical documentation and training.

The team supports programmes and missions including MSG, EPS, MTG, EPS-SG, EPS-Sterna, Sentinel-3, Sentinel-6 and CO2M, with potential future support for EPS-Aeolus.

• Role Duties and Responsibilities
• Act as the principal service-management contact for the EUMETSAT Technical Officer.
• Manage, supervise and monitor the Key Persons and Service Team Members.
• Plan, monitor and control service delivery.
• Allocate and prioritise tasks in coordination with the EUMETSAT Technical Officer.
• Ensure tasks are completed on time, correctly and to the required level of quality and completeness.
• Maintain regular communication with the EUMETSAT Technical Officer regarding activities and progress.
• Coordinate service delivery with other contractors and service providers.
• Participate in anomaly reviews, change-management boards and engineering-change activities.
• Participate in technical evolution and implementation activities.
• Monitor open actions, performance issues, errors and corrective measures.
• Maintain the required service capacity and team participation.
• Ensure continuing compliance with qualification and skills requirements.
• Plan and monitor team training and the induction of new personnel.
• Coordinate planned absences and maintain contingency plans for unexpected absences.
• Manage replacement transitions and the orderly departure of personnel.
• Ensure relevant administrative requirements are fulfilled.
• Coordinate and report onsite and offsite team presence.
• Be responsible for health and safety matters concerning the service team.
• Ensure quality assurance and implement appropriate quality-control measures.
• Organise and prepare coordination meetings with EUMETSAT.
• Prepare monthly service reports covering activities, team composition, training, operational events, risks and mitigations.
• Report produced outputs and the effort spent by the team.
• Maintain required effort records in EUMETSAT reporting tools.
• Monitor service performance and applicable service-level indicators.
• Identify and report service-continuity risks and mitigation measures.
• Promote continuous improvement in quality, efficiency and effectiveness.
• Maintain the repository of procedures, work instructions and reports.
• Ensure technical information, actions and outputs are recorded in the relevant EUMETSAT tools and repositories.
• Contribute to the EUMETSAT knowledge base.
• Ensure continuous fulfilment of all service requirements.
• Manage the final handover of services, documentation, knowledge and open activities to EUMETSAT or a successor contractor.
• Technical responsibilities

In addition to service management, the Service Level Manager will perform Ground Station Operations Engineering responsibilities appropriate to their Senior or Expert competence level, including:

• Ground-station operations and performance monitoring.
• Anomaly investigation and corrective actions.
• Ground-station upgrades and evolution.
• Requirements analysis and technical-document reviews.
• Integration, verification and validation.
• Operations preparation, commissioning and transition planning.
• Operational and training documentation.
• Technical coordination with EUMETSAT, contractors and external partners.

Essential Skills and Experience

• At least five years of relevant experience in an engineering position.

The successful candidate must qualify at Senior or Expert Engineer level and meet the highest competence level represented within the service team.

• At least two years of proven experience leading and managing technical service teams.
• Demonstrated responsibility for performance, planning, resource allocation and service delivery.
• At least two years of professional engineering experience in the operation of complex ground-station systems.
• Experience with TT&C and Mission Data Acquisition systems supporting multiple GEO and/or LEO spacecraft.
• Participation in verification and validation activities for ground-station systems.
• Experience with major upgrades or evolutions of operational ground stations.
• Experience defining and implementing verification and validation activities for ground-station systems.
• Experience preparing requirements, design descriptions, interface specifications, test procedures and operational procedures.
• Experience applying document-management and configuration-control processes.
• Experience defining or improving HMI screens, operator views or operational reports.
• Working knowledge of relevant standards, such as ECSS and CCSDS.
• Strong planning, coordination, leadership and stakeholder-management skills.
• Strong analytical, synthesis and presentation skills.
• Very good interpersonal, communication and reporting skills.
• Ability to manage complex activities under pressure with minimal supervision.
• Strong written and spoken English.
• Strong technical-writing ability.

Desirable Skills and Experience

• Ground-station and ground-segment interface verification and validation, including simulators.
• First-line hardware and software anomaly diagnosis and resolution.
• Baseband-system configuration and operation.
• Data Miner or comparable monitoring and control tools.
• Space Link Extension services.
• Earth-observation satellite missions.
• French-language skills.

Education

• Master's degree or equivalent in telecommunications, electronics, radio frequency, aerospace or another relevant engineering or scientific discipline.
• Working Location
• Darmstadt, Germany
• Working Policy
• Full-time On-site
• Working Hours and On-Call Requirements
• Monday to Thursday, 08:30–17:15, and Friday, 08:30–16:00 CET/CEST.
• Standby, call-out, weekend, public-holiday, late-night or shift work may be required when agreed and activated.
• During an activated standby period, personnel must be reachable by telephone within 15 minutes and, when required, able to attend the Mission Control Centre within one hour.
• Travel
• Occasional business travel to current or future EUMETSAT ground-station locations may be required.
• Security Clearance
• No formal security clearance is required.

Successful candidates must complete required security-awareness training and comply with EUMETSAT and supplier information-security requirements