Intern in the Galileo and EGNOS Programme Department - Resilient Navigation Systems - European Space Agency (Noordwijk)

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:

• Investigate architecture for more resilient positioning, navigation and timing systems using space segment capabilities
• Assess functions currently performed by ground segment and evaluate which could be moved to space or supported by space-based assets
• Investigate how different space assets could work together, including measurements, information exchange, inter-satellite links, and distributed processing
• Identify gaps and missing elements needed for system autonomy and resilience, including new technologies and architectural requirements
• Develop a roadmap towards a more autonomous and resilient space-based positioning, navigation and timing system

Are you eligible?

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

• Education: University student, preferably in final or second-to-last year of Master's level course; must be able to prove enrollment for entire internship duration
• Languages: English (good kn…), French (good kn…)
• Key skills: Knowledge of positioning, navigation and timing systems, System architecture analysis, Space segment and ground infrastructure understanding

Contract and working arrangements

Contract duration: Internship (duration not specified).

Working arrangements: ESTEC, Noordwijk, Netherlands.

Hiring unit: Directorate of Resilience, Navigation and Connectivity, System Security Unit of the Galileo Programme.

Position details

Reference

1452921233

Last Verified

3 November 2026

Position overview

This is the official EU Careers listing for Intern in the Galileo and EGNOS Programme Department - Resilient Navigation Systems at ESA based in Noordwijk (Traineeship). The vacancy reference is 1452921233.

Job Requisition ID:20992

Date Posted:1 November 2026

Closing Date:30 November 2026 23:59 CET/CEST

Publication Method:External Only

Directorate:Resilience, Navigation and Connectivity

Location ESTEC, Noordwijk, Netherlands

Our team and mission

You will be joining the system security unit of the Galileo programme, which forms part of the Directorate of Resilience, Navigation and Connectivity. Our team is responsible for managing security activities throughout the programme, addressing both civil and governmental services to maintain robust end-to-end security standards. We facilitate the definition of mission requirements and their subsequent evolution, integrating these into the system design while considering both performance and security. Furthermore, our unit assists in prototyping user segment receivers and system validation tools, enabling us to verify system capabilities and performance levels in advance and ensure compliance with mission, system and security specifications.

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

Field(s) of activity for the internship

Your internship will look at how future positioning, navigation and timing systems could become more resilient by making better use of the space segment and reducing their dependence on ground infrastructure.

Today, the generation and maintenance of high-accuracy navigation information rely heavily on ground infrastructure. Precise satellite orbits and clocks are determined and monitored from the ground, while information such as Earth orientation parameters is also generated through ground-based processing and observations. This creates a strong dependency between the space and ground segments and can represent a vulnerability to the resilience of the overall service. A disruption or loss of access to critical ground infrastructure could affect the ability to maintain accurate positioning, navigation and timing services.

At the same time, a number of new space-based capabilities are becoming available. Galileo provides a global navigation infrastructure, while new concepts involving low Earth orbit satellites, distributed navigation payloads and missions such as Genesis could provide additional measurements, precise timing and orbit determination capabilities. The question is whether these different capabilities could be brought together as a system of systems, with the space segment itself providing a much larger part of the information currently generated on the ground.

As an intern, you will have the following tasks:

- investigating what such an architecture could look like and, more importantly, what would be needed to make it work and improve the resilience of the overall system; - looking firstly at the functions currently performed by the ground segment and assessing which of them could potentially be moved into space or supported by information exchanged between space-based assets, including orbit and clock determination, time and frequency synchronisation, Earth orientation information, navigation data generation and integrity monitoring; - investigating then how different space assets could work together, including the measurements available from different types of satellites, the information that would need to be exchanged, possible inter-satellite links, distributed processing, the use of different orbital regimes, and how a common time and reference frame could be maintained across the system; - identifying, as a key part of the internship, what is still missing to make the system sufficiently autonomous and resilient, including assessing gaps that may require new technologies, additional measurements or a different system architecture, and evaluating their impact on the ability of the system to continue providing positioning, navigation and timing services when parts of the ground infrastructure are unavailable or degraded; - developing, as final objective, a possible roadmap towards a more autonomous and resilient space-based positioning, navigation and timing system, proposing how existing and future capabilities could complement each other, identifying the main technical and architectural challenges, and determining which developments would be needed to move from today's predominantly ground-supported architecture towards a system in which the space segment can increasingly determine, maintain and distribute its own navigation and timing information, even in the presence of disruptions to the ground segment.

Behavioural competencies

Education

You must be a university student, preferably in your final or second-to-last year of university course at Master's level. In addition, you must be able to prove that you will be enrolled at your university for the entire duration of the internship.

Additional requirements

The working languages of the Agency are English and French. A good knowledge of one of these is required. Knowledge of another ESA Member State language is an asset.

During the interview, your motivation for applying to this role will be explored.

Application timeline

This vacancy was first listed on 3 November 2026, today.

The application deadline is 30 November 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 3 November 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 Noordwijk see our Noordwijk location page.

New to EU careers? Our beginner's guide walks through entry routes, EPSO competitions, and what to prepare. For application logistics see application tips and EPSO competitions.