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Product Assurance and Safety Manager

Job Requisition ID: 21103

Date Posted: 21 October 2026

Closing Date: 11 November 2026 23:59 CET/CEST

Publication Method: Internal & External

Directorate: Technology, Engineering and Quality

Workplace:

Noordwijk, NL

Grade Band: A2 - A4

Location

ESTEC, Noordwijk, Netherlands

Description

You will be assigned to the Resilience, Navigation and Connectivity (RNC) Product Assurance and Safety Section, Product Assurance Management Division, Directorate of Technology, Engineering and Quality.

You will work as Product Assurance and Safety (PA&S) Manager to support projects in the Directorate of Resilience, Navigation and Connectivity. Under the coordination of the RNC Connectivity Team Lead, you will report hierarchically to the Head of the RNC Product Assurance and Safety Section and functionally to the project manager(s) of the project(s) you are assigned to. You will initially be assigned to support the SAGA project.

For the maintenance of professional standards, the implementation of ESA's general Product Assurance and Safety policy and contributions to corporate tasks, such as reviews, standardisation, alerts and lessons learned, you will report to the Head of the Quality Department through PA&S line management.

Duties

Your specific responsibilities and duties will include:

• defining or supporting the definition of general and project-specific programmatic and technical requirements in compliance with the applicable product assurance and safety requirements, the RNC PA&S approach and ESA policy. RNC projects may involve public-private partnerships between ESA and the private sector, requiring the ability to engage with partners in accordance with ESA's specific role;
• reviewing contractors' plans, specifications and effort proposed for the execution of the project PA&S programme;
• guiding and monitoring the implementation of PA&S requirements by contractors in order to assess performance and effectiveness, participating in design and safety reviews and directing the necessary preventive or corrective actions;
• planning, coordinating and monitoring any PA&S support for the project team;
• representing ESA on boards established to conduct reviews, such as failure reviews and test reviews, and to determine the disposition of non-conformances and anomalies;
• guiding and monitoring the selection and procurement of electrical, electronic and electromechanical parts, materials and processes and controlling implementation of applicable requirements;
• ensuring the implementation of software PA requirements;
• ensuring the preparation of design trade-offs, analyses and reports using reliability, availability, maintainability and safety data to support project decisions;
• monitoring manufacturing, integration and test activities through quality assurance audits, mandatory and key inspection points, test witnessing and configuration inspections;
• supporting the definition of acceptance requirements, as necessary, and participating in acceptance reviews of contractually deliverable items;
• reviewing contractors' PA&S analyses and safety data packages, ensuring that they are available by the planned dates to support safety review schedules, in coordination with the relevant safety authorities;
• providing PA&S support for project assembly, integration and verification activities;
• providing PA&S support during launch, validation, operation and service activities, as relevant. This may involve participation in launch campaigns;
• supporting the identification and management of lessons learned and contributing to the quality management system as required;
• supporting security activities as needed.

In the execution of these tasks, you will be supported by experts from the ESA Directorate of Technology, Engineering and Quality or service contractors.

Technical competencies

Knowledge of product assurance, quality assurance, and safety and quality management

Experience in the management and monitoring of industrial activities, including participation in reviews

Experience with the definition and application of product assurance and safety requirements baselines, tools and methods

Experience in the PA&S technical domains covered by the position

Experience with space and commercial quality standards and their implementation

Behavioural competencies

Result Orientation

Operational Efficiency

Fostering Cooperation

Relationship Management

Continuous Improvement

Forward Thinking

Education and professional experience

A master's degree in an engineering discipline is required for this post together with, in principle, eight years of relevant professional experience in product assurance and safety.

Additional requirements

Significant experience as a PA&S Manager on space telecommunications or New Space projects is considered an important asset, particularly where this has involved working with institutional partners, industry and/or telecommunications operators and applying ECSS, other industrial and commercial standards, and Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) products.

Eligibility for security clearance and access to export control-related information.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusiveness

ESA is an equal opportunity employer, committed to achieving diversity within the workforce and creating an inclusive working environment. We therefore welcome applications from all qualified candidates irrespective of gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religious beliefs, age, disability or other characteristics.