About this job

Reporting to the Director of Operations and Services to Users (OPS), the Head of Flight Operations Division (FLO) has overall responsibility for flight operations of the fleet of satellites operated by EUMETSAT including operations of the ground systems used for flight operations.

Responsibilities

• Manage the FLO Division and its allocated resources and ensure key competencies in flight operations are maintained and developed as required;
• Plan/Co-ordinate all routine, contingency and decommissioning/disposal operations of the fleet of satellites operated by EUMETSAT for its own purpose or Copernicus, and the associated flight operations ground segment systems;
• Supervise or follow up investigations of major in-orbit or flight operations ground segment anomalies or failure, and related interactions with industry and partner agencies, e.g. ESA, NOAA, CNES, DLR;
• Support the operations preparation of new satellite systems under development, including Meteosat Third Generation, EPS-Second Generation and Jason-CS/Sentinel-6 s;
• Plan/coordinate operations preparation activities for recurrent satellites including MTG, EPS-SG, Jason-CS and Sentinel-3 spacecraft;
• Interface with managers within other EUMETSAT departments and from operations partners to ensure co-ordination of flight operations with other operations and operations preparation activities;
• Manage each EUMETSAT programme after the handover of the last recurrent satellite and until programme closure, and, with the support of the administration department, be responsible for programme closure;
• Deputise for the Director of Operations and Services to Users.

Profile

• Minimum of ten years’ experience of operations of satellite systems, including some experience of managing flight operations of spacecraft;
• At least 5 years’ experience in a management role in operations / operations preparation of complex space systems, preferably Earth observation satellite systems;
• Experience of specification, testing and validation of complex satellite or IT systems;
• Significant experience in managing interactions with external suppliers and operations partners;
• Excellent team-working and team-building skills, verbal and written communication skills;
• Demonstrated ability to synthesise complex issues for communication to senior managers/decision makers
• Successful experience of working in a matrix organisation would be an advantage.