Description

Under the direct authority of the Head of the Ground Facilities Operations Division, you will be responsible end-to-end for ensuring service provision to relevant customers by taking care of the management, development, evolution, sustaining, operations and maintenance of the mission operations infrastructure. This infrastructure consists of:

• the Mission Operations IT (MOI-IT) services and facilities used to support the services delivered in the control rooms, including data centres and IT systems such as network and virtualisation infrastructure;
• the Operations Control Centre (OCC) deployed at ESOC and in the ESA network of ground stations, including dedicated and main control rooms used for spacecraft routine operations and launches supported by ESOC.

You will be responsible for the coordination and the end-to-end provision of the relevant IT and OCC services, primarily to ESOC’s missions, ground systems and space safety services, as well as to external users and other agencies as required.

Furthermore, you will be responsible for maintaining and evolving user specifications for all MOI-IT and OCC services and facilities in support of customers, as well as validating all related systems before operational use.

You will be accountable for the development of user requirements for the Cyber Security Operations Centre (CSOC) at ESOC Darmstadt and will take over full responsibility for operations after the development, inauguratio, and validation of related operational services.

Duties

Your tasks and responsibilities will include:

• ensuring service provision of Mission Operations Technical IT Infrastructure and the Operational Control Centre in support of routine and critical mission operations;
• through the nomination of IT Coordinators and the OCC Service Managers, providing services to missions in preparation and acting as the day-to-day interface for customers on MOI-IT and OCC issues, including the validation of system requirements during the preparation phase;
• ensuring the maintenance and operations of MOI-IT infrastructure and OCC facilities, including the data centres at ESOC and related subsystems;
• providing first-, second- and third-line maintenance and logistics support services for MOI-IT and OCC, including 24×7 shift operations support as part of the Network Operations Centre (NOC), ESOC’s central hub for the overall system-level monitoring service;
• initiating and managing, through the nomination of Technical Officers, industrial engineering and M&O service contracts; ensuring service delivery in accordance with Service Level Agreements;
• consolidating user requirements and specifying, in close cooperation with customers and the engineering department, the MOI-IT and OCC services and systems, the supporting site infrastructure and relevant sub-systems;
• creating and maintaining evolution roadmaps for MOI-IT and OCC investments; ensuring the implementation of the investment plan and related projects, taking account of the Directorate’s strategic objectives and customer needs;
• managing the design, development, validation, integration and transfer to operations of the MOI-IT and OCC services and facilities;
• managing the evolution of the service model towards increased externalisation and industrialisation, procuring services under an Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) approach;
• managing obsolescence and the related sustaining investment activities for MOI-IT and OCC systems;
• providing support for the development and deployment of the CSOC facilities at ESOC and taking responsibility for its operations and maintenance, in particular regarding support for mission operations; ensuring the proper interface between CSOC and the ESOC Network Operations Centre;
• leading the definition of the facility and building operational requirements with a view to a future-oriented and attractive operations site, in particular regarding the construction of a new operational building at ESOC;
• steering/participating in working groups and governance bodies related to the evolution of the infrastructure and services; ensuring coordination of major upgrades with stakeholders;
• managing the MOI-IT and OCC cost centres as well as the related investment and sustaining budgets;
• interfacing with other agencies and external customers as required;
• developing and implementing documented processes for the provision of MOI-IT and OCC services, including the ISMS as required;
• ensuring compliance of the operations and services with the applicable security policies and the established ISMS process; through the nomination of the PSSO for MOI-IT, overseeing all IT security aspects of the day-to-day operations;
• providing general system-level support, knowledge management, support for standardisation and study activities, and supporting the implementation of ESA corporate policies, as they apply to the Directorate.

You will closely interface with all flight operations teams and mission managers at ESOC, with the representatives of the Ground Systems Engineering and Innovation Department as well as with internal service providers in the field of site services and IT services.

Technical competencies

Behavioural competencies

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

Education

A Master’s degree in the information/communications technology (ICT) domain is required for this post.

Additional requirements

• Experience in the management of IT projects, IT operations and service management (preferably under ITIL) is required, including incident, problem and change management, and experience in IT operations under the DevOps service model;
• Experience in the deployment or operation of cybersecurity infrastructure would be an asset;
• A good knowledge of the internal operations of ESA, in particular ESOC working and costing methods would be advantageous.

You should further have:

• The potential to manage individuals or a team of experts;
• The ability to organise their activities and ensure a motivating work environment;
• Strong leadership capabilities, with proven relationship management and communication skills;
• The ability to drive your team’s performance, developing your people by encouraging learning, delegating responsibility and giving regular and constructive feedback;
• Strong problem-solving skills to deal with day-to-day operational challenges, together with demonstrated planning and organisational skills;
• Strong results orientation with the ability to set priorities and present practical solutions both orally and in writing;
• The ability to manage challenging situations proactively and constructively and to be customer focused.
• People management experience is an asset, as is international experience, i.e. outside your home country, as well as experience in diverse functional areas relevant to ESA activities.