Your mission
We are looking for a Space Surveillance Technical Lead who thrives at the intersection of technology, people leadership, and customer success. In this hybrid technical + management role, you will lead a small engineering team, manage key customer projects, and contribute directly to the development of advanced space systems across flight dynamics, SSA/SST, and mission operations.
You’ll act as both a hands-on engineer and a strategic project leader, guiding software development, steering technical discussions with satellite operators, and ensuring customer satisfaction across commercial and institutional missions.
This is a high-impact role with broad ownership. You’ll contribute to technical delivery, customer success, and strategic initiatives, including proposals and projects for space sustainability, SSA/SST, and mission operations.
Your tasks and responsibilities
Technical Leadership (50%)- Lead the design, development, and operation of space systems, including:
- Orbit determination and propagation
- Maneuver planning and trajectory optimization
- SSA/SST processing, catalog maintenance, and sensor data integration
- Architect, implement, and review production-grade software using:
- Python, Java, FORTRAN
- Orekit, or similar orbit mechanics libraries
- Conduct verification and validation (V&V) with real mission datasets.
Project & Team Leadership (50%)- Lead a high-performing engineering team (2–6 people), including mentoring, coordinating workloads, and guiding technical decisions.
- Drive end-to-end project delivery, ensuring technical quality, timelines, and customer success.
- Work directly with satellite operators and institutional partners to:
- Capture and refine mission requirements
- Lead high-level technical discussions
- Translate operational needs into actionable system features
- Serve as the primary technical point of contact for key accounts, building long-term customer relationships.
- Coordinate cross-functional efforts for proposals, strategic initiatives, and roadmap development.
Your profile
Must-have:
- M.Sc. or higher in Aerospace/Space Engineering, Computer Science, Physics, or another relevant technical field.
- Approx. 5 years of experience in the space engineering domain, including proven experience in coordinating or leading technical projects in the space domain (flight dynamics, SSA/SST, mission operations, or ground segment software).
- Proven ability to drive full lifecycle software development:
- Requirements analysis and refinement
- Architecture definition
- System and algorithm design
- Implementation planning
- Testing, integration, V&V
- Deployment and operational follow-up
- Strong background in technical project management, including:
- Prioritization and backlog management
- Cross-team coordination (engineering, product, operations)
- Tracking deliverables, risks, and milestones
- Efficient communication with technical and non-technical stakeholders
- Hands-on experience with software engineering in Python, Fortran, Java, or similar, and familiarity with modern development practices (CI/CD, testing, DevOps workflows).
- Ability to work directly with customers to:
- Lead technical discussions
- Clarify mission requirements
- Ensure delivery quality and operational readiness
- Experience providing guidance to small engineering teams, including mentoring and task coordination.
- Professional experience in international, distributed teams and valid EU work authorization.
Nice-to-have:
- Knowledge of cloud-native architectures and deployment frameworks (Docker, Kubernetes, AWS/Azure/GCP).
- Familiarity with:
- Orbit determination libraries (Orekit, GMAT, or similar)
- SSA/SST processing pipelines
- Sensor fusion workflows or catalog maintenance
- Experience in proposal writing, project scoping, or supporting business development efforts with technical input.
- Background collaborating with space agencies (ESA, DLR, etc.) or institutional missions.
- Awareness of ground segment operations, automated mission planning, or mission control workflows.
Why us?
- With a lean hierarchy and small working groups, you define your own way of work including flexible work hours.
- Work on groundbreaking space sustainability challenges with a team of top-tier engineers and scientists.
- Enjoy technical freedom. Influence system architecture, research methodologies, and data integration approaches.
- Grow continuously with access to training budgets, industry conferences, and networking opportunities.
- Be part of a strong engineering culture, with regular knowledge-sharing sessions, technical deep dives, and innovation sprints.
- Great team spirit, with company-wide events such as monthly all-hands lunches, and social activities like laser tag, dinners, and team-building outings.