Earth Observation Service Manager

Earth Observation Service Manager

**Job Requisition ID**:19616

**Date Posted**:12 June 2025

**Closing Date**:3 July 2025 23:59 CET/CEST

**Publication**:Internal & External

**Type of Contract**:Permanent

**Directorate**:Earth Observation Programmes

**Workplace**:Frascati, IT

**Grade Band**:A2 - A4

**Location**
ESRIN, Frascati, Italy

**Description**
Earth Observation Service Manager in the Copernicus Ground Segment Services Section, Copernicus Ground Segment and Data Management Division, Mission Management and Ground Segment Department, Directorate of Earth Observation Programmes.Copernicus is the Earth observation (EO) component of the European Space Programme, offering accurate, accessible data for environmental management, climate change mitigation and civil security.ESA is in charge of a digital ecosystem for the Copernicus Space Component (CSC) and Destination Earth (DestinE) data management to foster data exploitation activities and the growth of a sustainable and competitive network of European industrial services.ESA is implementing this digital ecosystem for the Copernicus and DestinE programmes based on an industrial service-oriented architecture relying on cloud technology and innovative solutions to optimise scalability and performance, providing users with timely access to high-quality data from Sentinels missions under Copernicus and to an ecosystem of digital twin-related services under DestinE.The Copernicus Ground Segment Services Section is responsible for the definition, procurement, management and evolution of the operational industrial services contributing to CSC operations (such as EO payload data acquisition, EO data processing, EO data archiving, services operations coordination, etc.), pursuing continuous innovation, cost-effectiveness, security and environmental sustainability objectives, while ensuring the availability of high quality data and services.Additional information about the activities of the Division can be found by clicking on the following links:
- **Duties**
You will report to the Head of the Copernicus Ground Segment Services Section and collaborate closely with the other heads of section in the Division. Your tasks and responsibilities will include:
- planning, organising and managing the procurement of the required EO services and associated allocated budget.
- contributing to the strategic evolution of EO operational services architecture and definition, making it possible to respond in a timely, efficient and cost-effective manner to the upcoming operational challenges of the Copernicus programme.
- defining and maintaining technical and service requirements, the service level of performance and cost models associated with the implementation of the EO operational services.
- identifying and assessing the adoption of cutting-edge technologies (in the areas of Cloud computing, HPC, AI, data analytics, data processing, standard data access interfaces, etc.) tailored to the EO domain to enhance the performance, reliability, capabilities and environmental sustainability of the ESA operational framework for Copernicus (EOF-CSC) and DestinE ecosystem services operations and big data management.
- identifying and assessing the operational implementation of innovative approaches for the operational Sentinels product definition and data architecture to support scalable and cost-effective access to increasing data volumes and managing their industrial service implementation.
This position will provide exposure to coordinating EO and IT industrial teams in Europe and to cutting-edge technologies and methodologies in the field of Earth observation, big data management and Cloud computing.**Technical competencies**-
Experience in multidisciplinary EO data engineering, such as EO data analytics, EO data engineering, EO data processing and EO data formatExperience in design or implementation of EO data management solutions with cloud-native services or big data frameworksUnderstanding of scalable and distributed systems architecture for EO big data management and operations of EO ground systemsExperience in managing operational projects/services**Behavioural competencies**
Result Orientation
Operational Efficiency
Fostering Cooperation
Relationship Management
Continuous Improvement
Forward ThinkingFor more information, please refer to the ESA Core Behavioural Competencies guidebook**Education**
A master's degree or PhD in a relevant field, including, but not limited to, engineering, computer science, Earth observation and/or data management is required for this post.**Additional requirements**
- At least three years of relevant professional experience
- Understanding of Earth observation missions
- Knowledge of machine learning and artificial intelligence in relevant areas (such as EO, Earth science modelling, operational processes or processors)
- Programming skills, particularly in Python and for cloud-based environments
- Proven ability to effectively work within a