Lead System Engineer; m​/f​/d) ATHENA-WFI satellite project

The Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE) in Garching (near Munich), Germany, is a world-leading institute for developing and operating state-of-the-art astronomical instruments. Over the past years, MPE has taken a leading role in the development of instrumentation for several international space- and ground-based projects, for example XMM-Newton, Herschel, SRG/eROSITA, EUCLID, the VLT telescopes (e.g. KMOS, GRAVITY) and Einstein Probe.

The MPE High-Energy group, led by Prof. K. Nandra, carries out major space hardware programs including the development of X-ray detectors and X-ray optics in support of its astrophysics research program.

Within the framework of ESA’s future large-class space mission New Athena, MPE leads the international consortium developing the Wide Field Imager (WFI), one of the two instruments aboard the X-ray satellite. Further details about the WFI, which is based on the Max Planck Society’s unique Silicon DEPFET technology, can be found here:

The MPE High Energy group is seeking an experienced Lead System Engineer for the WFI project, who should in addition have in their earlier career stages been an accomplished design engineer in any of the primary engineering disciplines (electronics, optical, mechanical, control and/or software engineering). As electronics forms the technical core of the instrument, a design background in electronics engineering is considered a particular asset.

Job Code: 18/2026

• Act as the technical authority for the whole WFI instrument, establishing, maintaining and controlling the instrument-level technical baseline throughout the project lifecycle.
• Be responsible for the project's technical configuration management.
• Work in close and continuous collaboration with the Project Manager, Project Scientist and the engineering team.
• Requirements engineering.
• Definition and control of technical interfaces (external: WFI-to-spacecraft; internal: between WFI sub-systems), ensuring consistency across all responsible sub-system teams.
• Application of end-to-end systems analysis and modelling and the subsequent allocation and management of technical budgets/tolerances.
• Definition of the verification requirements and success criteria that integration and test plans must satisfy, in coordination with the MAIT Manager.
• Support of system integration, verification and testing, acting as the primary technical interface towards ESA and consortium partners.
• Technical Management and Risk Assessment.
• Prepare technical documentation for milestones and reviews, assist the Project Manager with schedule development and resource planning, and monitor engineering progress against the project schedule, coordinating the technical actions needed to support timely achievement of engineering milestones.

Essential: A completed scientific university degree (M.Sc. or Dipl.

-Ing.) in engineering or an equivalent qualification with in-depth knowledge of scientific instrumentation development. A physics degree with applicable work experience in instrumentation development will also be considered.

Desirable:
Given that electronics is the technical core of the instrument, prior design experience in electronics engineering is regarded as a particular asset, though applicants with a strong background in the other primary engineering disciplines are equally encouraged to apply. A higher degree (Ph.D.) in System Engineering would be an advantage.

Successful candidate is expected to bring proven systems engineering experience with designing astronomical or other complex systems.

• Engineering management with a broad knowledge of the…