Product Assurance & Safety (PA&S) Engineer - 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:

• Define or support definition of general and project-specific programmatic and technical requirements in compliance with PA&S requirements
• Review contractors' plans, specifications and effort proposed for implementing the project's PA&S programme
• Guide and monitor implementation of PA&S requirements by contractors and assess performance and effectiveness
• Participate in project reviews and address preventive or corrective actions
• Plan, coordinate and monitor PA&S support for the project team
• Represent ESA in Boards established for reviews and in disposition of non-conformances/anomalies
• Guide and monitor application and procurement of electrical, electronic and electromechanical (EEE) parts, materials and processes
• Ensure implementation of software PA requirements

Are you eligible?

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

• Education: Master's degree in an engineering subject
• Experience: Four years of relevant professional experience
• Key skills: Knowledge of space product assurance, quality assurance and safety and quality management, Management and monitoring of industrial activities, Participation in reviews, Definition and application of product assurance and safety requirements baselines, tools and methods, Technical knowledge in domains covered by the position, Experience with space and commercial quality standards and their implementation

Contract and working arrangements

Working arrangements: ESTEC, Noordwijk, Netherlands.

Hiring unit: Navigation (NAV) Product Assurance and Safety Office (TEC-QN), Technology, Engineering and Quality Directorate.

Position details

Reference

1424656233

Last Verified

10 August 2026

Position overview

This is the official EU Careers listing for Product Assurance & Safety (PA&S) Engineer at ESA based in Noordwijk (Other). The vacancy reference is 1424656233.

Job Requisition ID:20846

Date Posted:10 August 2026

Closing Date:31 August 2026 23:59 CET/CEST

Publication:Internal & External

Directorate:Technology, Engineering and Quality

Location

ESTEC, Noordwijk, Netherlands

Description

You will be assigned to the Navigation (NAV) Product Assurance and Safety Office (TEC-QN) to work as Product Assurance and Safety Engineer, supporting assigned projects in the Resilience, Navigation and Connectivity (RNC) Directorate. You will report hierarchically to the Head of the NAV Space Segment Product Assurance and Safety Unit and functionally to the Project Manager(s) of the project(s) you will be supporting. Initially, you will be assigned as support for the Galileo Second Generation 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, lessons learned, etc.), you will report to the Head of the Quality Department through the Head of the NAV Product Assurance and Safety Office.

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 (PA&S) requirements, the PA&S Office’s approach and the ESA PA&S policy; - reviewing contractors’ plans, specifications and effort proposed for implementing the project’s PA&S programme; - guiding and monitoring the implementation of PA&S requirements by contractors in order to assess performance and effectiveness, participating in project reviews and addressing any preventive or corrective actions; - planning, coordinating and monitoring any PA&S support for the project team; - representing ESA in the Boards established for reviews (failure reviews, test reviews, etc.) and in the disposition of non-conformances/anomalies, etc.; - guiding and monitoring the application and procurement of electrical, electronic and electromechanical (EEE) parts, materials and processes and controlling implementation of applicable requirements; - ensuring the implementation of the software PA requirements; - ensuring the preparation of design trade-offs, analyses and reports using reliability, availability, maintainability and safety (RAMS) data to support project decisions; - monitoring the manufacturing, integration and test activities with 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, and ensuring that they are available on the planned dates to support safety review schedules, in coordination with the 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.

When performing these tasks, you will work in close coordination with the project PA&S Manager(s) and will be supported as relevant by experts from the project team and the ESA Directorate of Technology, Engineering and Quality.

Technical competencies

Knowledge of space 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

General background and specific experience in the technical domains covered by the position

Experience with space and commercial quality standards as well as with their implementation

Behavioural competencies

Education and professional experience

A master's degree in an engineering subject is required for this post together with four years of relevant professional experience.

Additional requirements

Previous experience in one of the PA&S technical domains significant experience as a PA&S Engineer working on space projects involving industry and institutional partners and the use of ECSS as well as of other industrial and commercial standards in space projects would be considered an asset.

Application timeline

This vacancy was first listed on 10 August 2026, today.

The application deadline is 31 August 2026, 20 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 10 August 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.