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VN 26/16 Director of Technical and Scientific Support

The Director of Technical and Scientific Support (TSS) will be responsible for ensuring cutting-edge strategic support to the complex, evolving satellite portfolio across EUMETSAT, whilst leading a diverse, multicultural team.

The Director will also take ownership of a number of other areas, including ground segment maintenance, engineering support for data processing, space segment mission support, space to ground engineering, and the generic ICT and management support areas across the organisation.

The individual will need to enable and empower EUMETSAT to continue elevating its capabilities, seizing opportunities brought by Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, and Cloud Computing, allowing the organisation to better serve organisations and citizens.

The Director will lead at the intersection of some of the biggest challenges and opportunities across science and engineering.

Fostering a collaborative culture of innovation and improvement will be pivotal to ensure that EUMETSAT maintains its place at the heart of its customer base, particularly as evolving market and political conditions bring about change within the sector.

The Director is a key member of the Management Board and reports directly into the Director General. Leading over 300 full time employees, the individual will steer TSS as it fulfils its unique role in providing support on development programmes, operations and to the organisation itself.

Duties

  • Manage the TSS department and its allocated resources, such that key competencies are maintained and available at the level required, in particular in the areas of:
    • System, ground segment and software engineering;
    • IT infrastructure and data services, including information security;
    • Cloud and other big data technology and related concepts and applications;
    • Remote sensing science, product development and calibration/validation;
    • Process assurance, project control, and configuration and information management processes;
  • Organise and supervise system engineering support to the operations of satellite systems, including harmonisation and upgrades of ground systems and service infrastructure, in response to obsolescence and evolving needs and for efficiency gains;
  • Guide and supervise the design, development and deployment of innovative and high security cloud infrastructure, applications and services to meteorological and other stakeholders and users;
  • Maintain the architecture of the EUMETSAT multi-mission ground system and related infrastructure, and provide cost effective long term and expert maintenance of ground systems, infrastructure, equipment, sites and services supporting operations and services to users, including expert support to anomaly investigation;
  • Organise and supervise system and ground system engineering support to the development of new satellite systems, including management of a portfolio of delegated ground segment development and upgrade projects;
  • Organise and supervise the design, development and verification of algorithms and processing chains, the calibration and validation of output meteorological and climate products and the related interactions with the science and user community;
  • Deliver state-of-the art and cost effective generic ICT services to the full organisation and maintain related tools, including the ERP system;
  • Deliver state of the art, harmonised management support services to the whole of EUMETSAT in the areas of process and quality assurance, project control and planning, configuration and information management.
 

LOCATION

Darmstadt, Germany

QUALIFICATIONS

University degree in a relevant engineering discipline, or other qualification and equivalent professional experience.

LANGUAGES

The official languages of EUMETSAT are English and French. Candidates must be able to work effectively in English and have some knowledge of French.

DEADLINE

8 April 2026

Duties

  • Manage the TSS department and its allocated resources, such that key competencies are maintained and available at the level required, in particular in the areas of:
    • System, ground segment and software engineering;
    • IT infrastructure and data services, including information security;
    • Cloud and other big data technology and related concepts and applications;
    • Remote sensing science, product development and calibration/validation;
    • Process assurance, project control, and configuration and information management processes;
  • Organise and supervise system engineering support to the operations of satellite systems, including harmonisation and upgrades of ground systems and service infrastructure, in response to obsolescence and evolving needs and for efficiency gains;
  • Guide and supervise the design, development and deployment of innovative and high security cloud infrastructure, applications and services to meteorological and other stakeholders and users;
  • Maintain the architecture of the EUMETSAT multi-mission ground system and related infrastructure, and provide cost effective long term and expert maintenance of ground systems, infrastructure, equipment, sites and services supporting operations and services to users, including expert support to anomaly investigation;
  • Organise and supervise system and ground system engineering support to the development of new satellite systems, including management of a portfolio of delegated ground segment development and upgrade projects;
  • Organise and supervise the design, development and verification of algorithms and processing chains, the calibration and validation of output meteorological and climate products and the related interactions with the science and user community;
  • Deliver state-of-the art and cost effective generic ICT services to the full organisation and maintain related tools, including the ERP system;
  • Deliver state of the art, harmonised management support services to the whole of EUMETSAT in the areas of process and quality assurance, project control and planning, configuration and information management.

Skills and Experience

  • Significant experience in the management of the design, development and testing of end-to-end systems (within the space, meteorology, or similar sectors);
  • Senior leadership experience in a technical managerial position, including responsibility for a portfolio of development projects, with a demonstrable track record of instigating change across a complex environment;
  • Extensive experience leading, empowering and motivating teams to deliver within a science and/or engineering organisation;
  • Successful management of complex development projects involving multidisciplinary teams of engineers and scientists;
  • Demonstrated success in advancing organisation wide transformation in a matrix environment, ensuring alignment and buy in across teams with differing priorities.

Employment Conditions

Candidates interested in this role are invited to submit their application by email to Diletta.Arduino@KornFerry.com, together with a CV and letter of motivation. All applications will be reviewed by the Korn Ferry team, and all candidates will receive a status update via email after their application has been reviewed.

The initial contract will be of 4 years’ duration, with a subsequent 5 year contract being awarded thereafter, subject to individual performance and organisation requirements.

This post is graded A6/A7 on the EUMETSAT salary scales. The minimum basic salary for this post is EURO 14,821 per month (net of internal tax but excluding pension contribution and insurances) which may be negotiable on the basis of skills and experience. The salary scale provides for increments on the anniversary of taking up employment, and scales are reviewed by the EUMETSAT Council with effect from 1 January each year. In addition to basic salary, EUMETSAT offers attractive benefits. Further information, including salary details, is available on the EUMETSAT web site.

EUMETSAT is committed to providing an equal opportunities work environment for men and women.
Please note that only nationals of EUMETSAT Member States may apply. The EUMETSAT Convention requires that Staff shall be recruited on the basis of their qualifications, account being taken of the international character of EUMETSAT.

About EUMETSAT

EUMETSAT is Europe’s meteorological satellite agency. Its role is to establish and operate meteorological satellites to monitor the weather and climate from space - 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. This information is supplied to the National Meteorological Services of the organisation's Member States in Europe, as well as other users worldwide.

EUMETSAT also operates several Copernicus missions on behalf of the European Union and provide data services to the Copernicus marine and atmospheric services and their users.

As an intergovernmental European Organisation, EUMETSAT has 30 Member States (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom.)
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