In support of the Coordination Office at ESA’s Directorate of Human Spaceflight we are looking for: University Liaison Officer

The Coordination office, among other things, is responsible for the educational aspect of the HSF programs and in particular for the utilization of educational purposes of the ISS.

This entails a broad range of activities with educational institutions, science centres and museums through Europe taking advantage of the motivational and educational element provided by the ISS, human spaceflight and exploration.

Tasks and Responsibilities:

• Organizing the work of the HSF-CO education group providing regular and timely feedback between the group and the Head of HSF-CO;
• Ensuring a fair distribution of the workload taking into account individual area of responsibilities;
• Receiving and implementing guidelines and direction by the Head of the Coordination Office and make sure that educational activities are conducted according to these guidelines;
• Representing the Directorate in educational related meetings and negotiations after having sought the necessary indications and having coordinated the attendance;
• Analysing processes and activities of the HSF-CO education group Conceiving, developing and implementing a series of programmes and activities with European Universities around the theme of human spaceflight and exploration (ISS in particular)
• Leveraging on the research and innovation of potential of European Academia to establish a bridge between educational activities and R&D
• Supporting activities and programmes in the field of workforce development in support of sustainable human spaceflight and exploration by associating European Industry and Academia;
• Leveraging on the multiplying factor of University students, researches and faculty to support HSF strategic communication;
• Supporting existing University network and creating the conditions to establish new ones;
• Liaising and cooperating with other entities (e.g. European Union) in order to assess, define and implement possible cooperation on the above.

Skills and Experience:

• PhD or Master Degree
• Fluent in English; knowledge of another member state language is an asset
• Experience in managing teams in fast paced and multi-cultural environment
• Proven familiarity with the European academic and educational community in order to have an insight into the current trends in the field; understand the relevant academic discussions; proactively liaise with the main actors of the community, provide the Coordination Office with a qualified and credible interface with counterparts in the other space agencies and other relevant institutions (e.g. universities, schools, museums, science magazines); understand academia and student’s needs, interests and expectations
• Proven experience in coordinating the end-to-end development and implementation of projects with multiple interfaces
• Creativity and enthusiasm;
• Good communication skills, verbal (in public and during formal meetings) and written;
• Ability to autonomously manage his/her workload identifying priorities and strategic actions; ability to cope with pressure, meet deadlines and deliver on time;
• Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with the outside world and colleagues, supporting and advising them if necessary and according to the team spirit;
• Ability to quickly and clearly understand the goals to be achieved in a project;
• Proficient in MS office software;
• Good level of flexibility and availability to support missions outside ESTEC if necessary;

Starting date: May 2010 or as soon as possible thereafter

An exciting international working environment in a highly innovative and motivated team awaits you!

HE Space Operations is an international human resources company specialised in the space market. We have been providing consultancy services in space engineering and business administration for over 25 years. We generally work directly on-site with our principal customers such as the European Space Agency and EADS Astrium.