Vega and Space Rider Flight Dynamics Engineer

Vega and Space Rider Flight Dynamics Engineer

Job Requisition ID: 21069

Date Posted: 27 October 2026

Closing Date: 17 November :59 CET/CEST

Publication Method: Internal & External

Type of Appointment (learn more): 4 years, extendable to indefinite

Directorate: Technology, Engineering and Quality

Workplace: Frascati, IT

Grade Band: A2 - A4

Location

ESTEC, Noordwijk, Netherlands with a resident assignment to ESRIN in Frascati, Italy.

The post is subject to rotation. At the end of the 4-year assignment, notwithstanding possible extension of the appointment, a further assignment in an ESA establishment will be considered.

Description

Vega and Space Rider Flight Dynamics Engineer, reporting to the Head of the GNC Systems Architecture Section (parent organisation unit), in the GNC, AOCS and Pointing Division, Electrical Department, Directorate of Technology, Engineering and Quality.

For your first assignment, you will be located at ESRIN and provide support to the Vega and Space Rider Launch System and Engineering Division, Flight Programmes Department, Directorate of Space Transportation.

Duties

This Division is responsible for managing engineering expertise in the Vega and Space Rider Integrated Project Team, supporting ESA and institutional missions, ensuring compatibility between launch systems, payloads and mission requirements. The Division is also responsible for maintaining technical consistency in the development and exploitation of the Vega-C, Vega-E and Space Rider systems, as well as for the implementation of the launch system industrial activities.

Your tasks and responsibilities will include:

• serving as the focal point for all trajectory analyses to be performed as part the preparation of Vega missions;
• supporting the GNC system development with an emphasis on guidance definition through trajectory analysis and optimisation in closed-loop;
• supporting ESA and institutional customers, from the early development phases, on all aspects related to payload compatibility with the Vega launcher family, in close coordination with the experts from the Vega Integrated Project Team;
• participating in Vega-C mission analyses covering the full lifecycle from early feasibility studies and activities through to final mission analyses, ensuring the compliance of mission characteristics with the launcher’s qualified domain;
• conducting preliminary separation and collision-avoidance analyses, based on preliminary mission inputs, to support ESA and institutional missions;
• performing long-term trajectory propagation analyses, including critical reviews of industrial inputs related to no-collision and mid-term collision avoidance assessments, with particular emphasis on Vega-C dual-launch and multi-payload configurations;
• supporting Vega-C post-flight mission analyses related to trajectory and separation performance, including contributions to anomaly investigations within the relevant domain and the performance of independent cross-checks where required, for example to refine internal model uncertainties;
• maintaining the register of future missions and preparing bi-yearly internal reports highlighting key criticalities with respect to the launcher’s qualified perimeter;
• producing relevant technical documentation and presenting analysis results to ESA and institutional customers as well as to internal or external stakeholders;
• maintaining, adapting and further developing in-house flight dynamics tools to accommodate new launcher characteristics and evolving mission needs, including mathematical solvers and tools for concurrent optimisation of GNC-related aspects of the space vehicle and trajectory.

Technical competencies

• Flight dynamics and analysis of launchers and re-entry vehicles
• Launcher system engineering and launcher performance analysis
• Trajectory analysis and optimisation, including transient flight phases and separation dynamics
• Long-term trajectory propagation, collision avoidance and multi-payload mission analysis
• Development, validation and maintenance of launcher flight dynamics and mission analysis tools and numerical models
• Technical assessment and independent verification of industrial analyses and data
• Knowledge of launcher GNC and its interfaces with propulsion, structures, operations and other system disciplines
• Knowledge of the European launcher sector and the Vega launcher family

Behavioural competencies

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

Education And Professional