Estonian National Graduate Trainee in Advanced Materials and Process Engineering - European Space Agency (Harwell)

About this position

The summary below is published by European Space Agency on the official vacancy notice. Our own analysis — salary realism, comparable openings, career trajectory, language profile — follows further down the page.

Key responsibilities

According to the vacancy notice, the role centres on the following duties:

• Identify, investigate and perform pre-assessment of emerging materials and processes
• Investigate and use advanced non-destructive inspection (NDI) techniques
• Optimise performance of metal based additively manufactured parts
• Perform testing to determine fundamental properties of powders
• Provide assistance in design and production of test coupons
• Perform material related tests on 3D-printed test structures (tensile testing, fatigue testing, defect analysis)
• Investigate part performance produced by multi-laser additive manufacturing
• Assist model development for virtual testing and digital twinning

Are you eligible?

Check these requirements from the notice before investing time in an application:

• Education: Master's degree in material science covering metallic, polymeric and/or composite materials, just completed or in final year
• Key skills: Knowledge of relevant technical/functional domains, General knowledge of the space sector and relevant activities, Knowledge of ESA and its programmes/projects, Good interpersonal and communication skills, Ability to work in multicultural environment, Ability to work independently and as part of a team
• Eligibility: Sponsored by an ESA Member State or Associate Member under bilateral partnership agreement; selection may include evaluation of background and knowledge of space policies and related activities of the sponsoring State

Selection process

The notice describes the following selection steps:

• Assessment against position requirements
• Evaluation of background and knowledge of sponsoring State's space policies and related activities
• Exploration of motivation, overall professional perspective and career goals in later stages

Contract and working arrangements

Contract duration: National Graduate Trainee Programme with same employment conditions as ESA's Graduate Trainee Programme.

Working arrangements: ECSAT, Harwell, United Kingdom; work carried out at ECSAT in close cooperation with ESTEC (Noordwijk, NL).

Hiring unit: Structures, Mechanisms and Materials Division, Technology, Engineering and Quality Directorate.

Position details

Reference

1437024433

Last Verified

16 September 2026

Position overview

This is the official EU Careers listing for Estonian National Graduate Trainee in Advanced Materials and Process Engineering at ESA based in Harwell (Traineeship). The vacancy reference is 1437024433.

Job Requisition ID:20894

Date Posted:15 September 2026

Closing Date:13 October 2026 23:59 CET/CEST

Publication:External Only

Type of Appointment (learn more):National Graduate Trainee

Directorate:Technology, Engineering and Quality

The ESA National Graduate Trainee (NGT) Programmes offer recent Master’s graduates the opportunity to gain practical, hands-on experience at ESA across a range of space-related disciplines. The programmes are essentially similar to ESA’s own Graduate Trainee Programme, notably in offering the same employment conditions. They however differ in one important respect: each NGT Programme is funded by an individual ESA Member State or Associate Member under a bilateral partnership agreement concluded with ESA. As a result, a representative of the sponsoring State participates in the selection process. In addition to assessing candidates against the requirements of the position, the selection may also include an evaluation of their background and knowledge of the space policies and related activities of the sponsoring State.

Location

ECSAT, Harwell, United Kingdom

Our team and mission

The Structures, Mechanisms and Materials Division is the centre of competence of the Agency in all areas related to spacecraft and launcher structures, mechanisms, tribology and pyrotechnic devices, as well as materials and processes. This encompasses spacecraft and launcher lightweight structures, stable structures, advanced mechanical materials applications, structural dynamics, damage tolerance, deployable structures/booms, active structures, hold-down and release devices, electrical motors for space mechanisms, launcher and re-entry vehicle hot- and cold structures, landing attenuation systems, seals, valves, parachute systems, separation systems, solar array drive mechanisms, reaction wheels, pointing mechanisms, pyrotechnics, bearings and tribology aspects. It provides support to projects, preparatory programs and technology programs.

In order to achieve its objectives, the Materials, Manufacturing, and Assembly Section, located at ESTEC (Noordwijk, NL) is also managing the Advanced Manufacturing Laboratory at ECSAT (Harwell, UK) whose objective is the performance evaluation and feasibility assessment of emerging manufacturing processes such as additive manufacturing and advanced joining techniques and to explore the benefit of utilising additional capabilities available through the Harwell campus.

The work proposed will be carried out at ECSAT in close cooperation with the Materials and Processes Section at ESTEC. The general activities performed within the remit of the Materials and Processes Section, covering also activities at ECSAT include:

- the qualification for space flight of all advanced metallic and non-metallic materials, structural ceramics and glasses as well as all related manufacturing and surface treatment processes for all ESA spacecraft and launchers programme; - the development of revolutionary materials and innovative manufacturing technologies both internally and in cooperation with other space agencies and research organisations; - the failure investigation of materials and processes underperforming and impacting ESA space missions; - the development, certification and support of new European industrial capabilities, manufacturing processes and manpower skills training related to space applications of materials and components; - the establishment and implementation of requirements and standards for the development and the procurement of space grade materials and manufacturing processes; - the development, maintenance and improvement of the European Space Materials Database, storing all relevant data generated for materials and processes intended for Space use.

You are encouraged to visit the ESA website: http://www.esa.int

Field(s) of activity/research for the traineeship

The Advanced Manufacturing Cross-Cutting Initiative captures the opportunity of adopting revolutionary manufacturing capabilities, advanced materials and associated processes and creates sustainable competitive advantage for European space industry in the global market. In its latest revision of activities, emphasis is given to smart manufacturing, i.e. the use of interconnected digital technologies in industrial production, that enable new and more efficient processes and which in some cases yield new goods and services.

The current space missions are often limited in their performances and scientific achievements by the traditional manufacturing processes/concepts. Though Advanced Manufacturing technologies are readily available in the current European industrial landscape, these can be adopted for next generation space hardware manufacturing. This will enable new and highly innovative spacecraft and launchers designs, with significantly reduced manufacturing constraints (including costs and lead-time) and tremendous performance improvement.

Complementing this initiative, the following activities are currently targeted through the advanced manufacturing laboratory:

- identifying, investigating and performing pre-assessment of emerging materials and processes, investigating and use of advanced non-destructive inspection (NDI) techniques in support of, or even replacing, experimental destructive laboratory verification activities; - optimising the performance of metal based additively manufactured parts by investigating the relation between raw material quality and part performance; - performing testing to determine fundamental properties of powders; - providing assistance in the design and production of test coupons; - performing material related tests on 3D-printed test structures (e.g. tensile testing, fatigue testing, defect analysis) and correlating the properties of as-built parts with previously measured powder characteristics; - investigating the part performance produced by multi-laser additive manufacturing; - assisting model development for virtual testing and digital twinning, linking process, structure, and performance in generating input parameters for integrated computational materials engineering (ICME) models.

You will use facilities available through the ECSAT Advanced Manufacturing Laboratory in close cooperation with ESTEC Materials and Electrical Components Laboratory, in order to characterise all the above advanced materials and manufacturing processes, with particular focus on additive manufacturing.

The final goal is to provide an in-depth understanding of the performances of the identified technologies and provide recommendations for further improvement in view of their space application in highly demanding environments.

Technical competencies

Knowledge of relevant technical/functional domains

Relevant experience gained during internships, project work and/or extracurricular or other activities

General knowledge of the space sector and relevant activities

Knowledge of ESA and its programmes/projects

Behavioural competencies

Education

You should have just completed, or be in the final year of your master’ s degree in material science covering metallic, polymeric and/or composite materials.

Additional requirements

You should have good interpersonal and communication skills and should be able to work in a multicultural environment, both independently and as part of a team. Previous experience of working in international teams can be considered an asset. Your motivation, overall professional perspective and career goals will also be explored during the later stages of the selection process.

Application timeline

This vacancy was first listed on 15 September 2026, 1 day ago.

The application deadline is 13 October 2026, 25 days from today. Late applications are not accepted, so submit through the official EU Careers portal well in advance.

Last verified against the EU Careers feed on 16 September 2026.

Where to learn more

For headcount, mission, and other open vacancies at ESA see the ESA institution page; for the cost of living, correction coefficient, and other postings in Harwell see our Harwell location page.

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