{"id":2695081,"url":"https://alion.io/job/esa-archive-scientist","title":"Archive Scientist","company":{"id":40193,"name":"European Space Agency","domain":"esa.int","url":"https://alion.io/company/esa","size_band":"1001-5000","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"SuccessFactors","truth_index":{"grade":"B","score":80,"open_postings":3,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":1,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":21,"computed_at":"2026-10-21T05:46:15Z"}},"role":"Science & Research","role_family":"Science & Research","seniority":"middle","employment_type":null,"work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"explicit","locations":["Villanueva de la Cañada, Spain"],"countries":["ES"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":{"min_usd":35000,"max_usd":82000,"period":"year","method":"global_role_cell_scaled_by_country","sample_n":760},"experience_years_min":4,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"Agile","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-10-16T09:54:47Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-16","last_verified_at":"2026-10-20T22:36:56Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":5,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":5},"description":"This is a fixed-term appointment with an initial duration of 4 years. Depending upon performance and organisational needs, the appointment may be extended up to a possible maximum duration of 8 years.\nLocation\nESTEC, Noordwijk, Netherlands with a resident assignment to ESAC, Villanueva de la Cañada, Spain.\nDescription\nThe Directorate of Human and Robotic Exploration Programmes (D/HRE) is a programme directorate within the ESA matrix structure. Through a partnership between humans and robots, D/HRE is dedicated to exploring destinations in space where humans are already living and working -- or will live and work in the future -- for the purpose of scientific research, economic development, international cooperation and public inspiration.\nThe Science Operations Department (SCI-S), within ESA’s Directorate of Science (D/SCI), hosts the scientists and engineers who oversee the space missions from study to the end of operations, develops the science operation systems for the missions and operates the missions in space, and archives and curates their data during operations and beyond. The Department provides support to D/HRE in the curation, archiving and dissemination of data from its planetary missions, such as the Rosalind Franklin Mission (RFM) and other Mars or lunar experiments. Its main objective is to maximise the scientific output of the missions for the benefit of humankind.\nYou will be assigned as Archive Scientist for ESA planetary missions under the direct responsibility of the Chief Exploration Scientist reporting functionally to the Head of the Science Archives Development and Operations Section, also known as the ESAC Science Data Centre (ESDC) in the Data Science and Archives Division within the Science Operations Department (SCI-S).\nYou will have further functional reporting lines within the mission(s) you support, initially the ESA ExoMars RFM and Comet Interceptor.\nDuties\nYou will be responsible for the definition and specification of the scientific archive for the supported ESA planetary missions, initially the ESA ExoMars RFM and Comet Interceptor, and for the follow-up and monitoring of its implementation and operation with the goal of maximising the scientific return of the missions. You will work in close collaboration with the planetary mission project scientists, the other mission archive scientists, the ESDC Software and Data Systems Architect and the members of the Planetary Science Archive User Group.\nAs Archive Scientist, your specific responsibilities will include:\nownership of use cases and drivers for the mission archives, including:interfacing with the Project Scientist, the Science Operations Centre (SOC) team, other archive science leads and other archive scientists, as well as the external stakeholders, such as the instrument teams and the mission scientific community, to provide the science use cases that drive the mission archive and determine the priorities for implementation;\nproviding scientific support and steering the development and operations of the archives for the supported ESA planetary missions, providing the ESDC development team with an archive user requirements document as a baseline for implementation;\n\nchairing and coordinating a mission-level Data Archive Working Group (DAWG);\nmonitoring the implementation, testing and expected performance of the archive based on use cases gathered by the mission team and derived requirements; in particular, defining and performing the end user acceptance testing of the different archive versions prior to their release to the scientific community;\nwith the help of the instrument operations scientists, supervising and coordinating the definition and provision of science data products and any higher-level data products from the community or instrument teams as needed, including liaising on submission schedules and content;\nliaising with any internal and external providers to ensure the completeness of all levels of data products with maximum science quality, contributing to the optimisation and refinement of the archive products when possible;\nencouraging and contributing to the science exploitation of the missions’ data products through archive usage;\nparticipating in archive scientist meetings and user groups and sharing ideas and proposals for the strategy and promotion of the ESA science archives;\nsupporting the scientific community with archive- and data product-related matters.\nAs a scientist in the Department, you will be required to actively pursue personal scientific research, publishing articles using archival data, and to actively participate in the Department’s research activities.\nTechnical competencies\nExperience in science data management and archiving systems\nExperience working with planetary science data in a research setting, preferably including data from surface/in situ planetary missions\nExperience in coordinating the scientific community and managing multiple interfaces at international level within a large multidisciplinary team.\nExperience in science operations, preferably in the context of ESA missions\nBehavioural competencies\nResult Orientation\nOperational Efficiency\nFostering Cooperation\nRelationship Management\nContinuous Improvement\nForward Thinking\nFor more information, please refer to ESA Core Behavioural Competencies guidebook\nEducation and professional experience\nA PhD in a relevant domain is required for this post, together with one year of relevant professional experience.\nAdditional requirements\nThe following are assets for this position:\nExperience in promoting science to the wider scientific community and general public;\nUnderstanding of user needs in relation to complex software systems;\nExperience in science operations, preferably in the context of ESA missions;\nExperience in agile and DevOps methodologies, human factor engineering (UX design) and associated technologies and their use in modern software engineering.\nDiversity, Equity and Inclusiveness\nESA 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.\nAt the Agency we value diversity, and we welcome people with disabilities. Whenever possible, we seek to accommodate individuals with disabilities by providing the necessary support at the workplace. The Human Resources Department can also provide assistance during the recruitment process. If you would like to discuss this further, please contact us via email at .\nImportant Information and Disclaimer\nIn principle, recruitment will be within the advertised grade band (A2-A4). However, if the selected candidate has less than four years of relevant professional experience following the completion of the master’s degree, the position may be filled at A1 level.\nApplicants must be eligible to access information, technology, and hardware which is subject to European or US export control and sanctions regulations.\nDuring the recruitment process, the Agency may request applicants to undergo selection tests. Additionally, successful candidates will need to undergo basic screening before appointment, which will be conducted by an external background screening service, in compliance with the European Space Agency's security procedures.\nNote that ESA is in the process of transitioning to a Matrix setup, which could lead to organisational changes affecting this position.\nThe information published on ESA’s careers website regarding working conditions is correct at the time of publication. It is not intended to be exhaustive and may not address all questions you would have.\nNationality and Languages\nPlease note that applications are only considered from nationals of one of the following States: Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Canada, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia.\nAccording to the ESA Convention, staff shall be recruited on the basis of their qualifications, taking into account an adequate distribution of posts among nationals of the Member States.\nThe working languages of the Agency are English and French. A good knowledge of one of these is required. Knowledge of another Member State language would be an asset.","description_format":"text","description_chars":8574,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":4,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"master","optional":false},"security_clearance":false,"languages":[{"language":"English","level":"All levels","optional":false}]},"benefits":["Equity"],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"Austria","iso":"AT","kind":"country"},{"name":"Belgium","iso":"BE","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Space Services","Research Institutes"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-16T09:54:47Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":86,"band":"hot","label":"Hiring now","p_open":1,"p_active":0.86,"p_room":1,"age_days":4,"expected_fill_days":21,"reasons":["conf:7","win:early"],"computed_at":"2026-10-21T05:46:15Z"},"pay":null,"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/esa-archive-scientist","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/esa-archive-scientist.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-21T17:12:50Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":24247,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-22T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":40193},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=40193"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fesa-archive-scientist"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fesa-archive-scientist"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fesa-archive-scientist"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/esa-archive-scientist\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fesa-archive-scientist"}]}