Flight Software Engineer
ARES - (Association of Retired ESA Staff in Nederland).
About the role
Flight Software Engineer (3 Positions)
Job Requisition ID: 20415
Date Posted: 17 March 2026
Closing Date: 7 April 2026 23:59 CET/CEST
Publication: Internal & External
Type of Appointment: 4 years, extendable to indefinite
Directorate: Technology, Engineering and Quality
Workplace: Noordwijk, NL
Location: ESTEC, Noordwijk, Netherlands
This vacancy is published to recruit for either:
- an appointment of 4 years, extendable to an indefinite duration; or
- a fixed‑term appointment with an initial duration of 4 years that, depending on performance and organisational needs, may be extended up to a maximum total duration of 8 years.
Description
This post forms part of the Flight Software Section, which provides expert technical support for flight software development and functional verification and validation for all ESA missions across all directorates: Science, Human and Robotic Exploration, Earth Observation, Resilience, Navigation and Connectivity, Space Transportation, Technology, Engineering and Quality, and Operations, including Space Safety.
The Section has contributed to the success of ESA missions such as Rosetta, Galileo, Huygens, Juice, Hera, Copernicus, ISS Columbus, meteorological missions and many others.
The Section is also responsible for defining, initiating and managing technology research and development (R&D) activities in its field of expertise to ensure that future missions use
Requirements
- Experience in real-time embedded software
- Knowledge of all phases of the software development life cycle
- Experience in software development projects
- Experience in functional verification and validation activities
- Spacecraft systems knowledge
- Experience with space engineering standards and their implementation
- Strong experience in real-time embedded software on space-qualified hardware, for example SPARC LEON processors such as GR712RC, GR712RC, GR740 and GR765, ARM, RISC-V, multicore platforms, IMA/TSP, and RTOS such as RTEMS and VxWorks
- Strong knowledge of multicore architectures and their use in spacecraft flight software, including various multicore architectures, multicore support by RTOS, advanced partitioning, software scheduling and schedulability analysis methods
- Knowledge of all phases of the software development life cycle, such as requirements engineering, design, coding, V&V, functional validation at system level, support to operations and agile methodologies
- Strong experience in software development projects, including C/C++, Ada and assembly programming languages, as well as software development environments, software verification and validation facilities and test benches, OBC emulators, simulators and ground support equipment
- Proven experience in functional verification and validation activities, for example the specification and development of test means and simulation models, the definition of test plans, test specifications and test procedures, functional validations performed on avionics and/or instrument test benches, and support to system validation test campaigns
- Spacecraft systems knowledge and experience with software development for spacecraft platforms and/or payloads, such as avionics subsystems and integrated flight hardware
- Proven experience in the management and monitoring of industrial activities, such as the elaboration of statements of work and user specifications, proposal evaluation, supplier interactions, monitoring of progress and quality, and acceptance
- A good understanding of modern software engineering methods and tools, R&D trends and the industrial landscape, including verification and validation methods and tools, code generation tools, model-based system and software engineering and agile development approaches
- Proven experience with space software engineering standards and their application, or equivalent standards in other domains; experience with specific standards and guidelines, such as ECSS-E-ST-40C, ECSS-Q-ST-80C, ISVV guide, ECSS-E-ST-70-41C, ECSS-E-ST-10C, ECSS handbooks and SAVOIR specifications, is an additional asset
- Applicants must be eligible to access information, technology, and hardware which is subject to European or US export control and sanctions regulations & eligible to acquire the security clearance by their national security administrations
Responsibilities
- Providing specialist technical support for real-time embedded software systems, including flight software and corresponding development and validation facilities
- Performing technical monitoring of industrial activities linked to flight software development, including independent verification of industrial outputs, reviews and acceptance
- Monitoring various functional verification and validation activities at spacecraft, subsystem and unit levels
- Providing technical expertise in software system-related activities
- Participating in the evaluation of industrial proposals and in project reviews
- Defining and implementing technology activities within the Section's competence, in particular concerning software architectures, software ecosystems, verification and validation, and modern engineering methods and tools to improve development and verification processes for embedded software
- Contributing to the dissemination of the results of activities performed and knowledge transfer across the Agency
- Contributing, as a technical expert, to standardisation activities in the software systems domain
Skills
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