Junior Professional in Lunar Science Instrumentation

Junior Professional in Lunar Science Instrumentation

This post is part of ESA’s Junior Professional Programme. We are looking for enthusiastic candidates with up to 3 years of relevant professional experience after their Master's degree to join ESA for a four-year assignment. During this time, you will be actively working and learning on the job and will benefit from valuable mobility and developmental opportunities that will prepare you for a successful career ject to performance, it is therefore the intention to offer you an indefinite contract which will start at the end of the four years.

Recruitment will take place at the A1 grade on the Coordinated Organisations’ salary scale. At the end of the fourth year and if you are offered an indefinite contract at the end of your Junior Professional assignment, you will be upgraded to the A2 grade.

ESTEC, Noordwijk, Netherlands or other site, as required. Developmental assignments may entail a temporary relocation to another ESA establishment or another location.

As part of the Junior Professional Programme, you will provide scientific support to the definition, development and operation of scientific instrumentation to be operated at the Moon. ESA’s lunar science activities depend upon the performance of scientific payloads accommodated on ESA missions and the missions of international partners. Scientific instruments underpin the performance of these payloads. Your work will help ensure that the performances of instrumentation matured and developed for new lunar payloads are consistent with ESA’s scientific needs.

The position will be within the Lunar Science Office Team in the Directorate of Human and Robotic Exploration. The Lunar Science Office Team is responsible for defining the scientific content of ESA’s lunar activities and for ensuring the scientific performance of these missions and the data products they deliver, as well as delivering the scientific outcomes of lunar activities. You will report to the Lunar Science Office Team Leader.

During 2026, a portfolio of candidate lunar payloads which can address the scientific needs of ESA’s exploration programme will be selected. These payloads will cover a diversity of scientific topics including environment and effects, local resources, landing site characterisation, life sciences, geosciences and fundamental science. From 2027, the payloads may be considered for development for flight or for further maturation to prepare for future missions.

You will focus on the scientific measurement techniques and approaches used within the instrumentation at the core of these payloads in order to ensure the scientific feasibility of the measurements and that measurement performances will be consistent with scientific end user needs.

Your initial tasks will involve providing support to the selection of the candidate payloads. You will then follow the new flight development and technology maturation activities stemming from this selection. You will work within the Lunar Science Office and with technology development and project teams, either as the assigned ESA scientist for a given activity, or by providing, as required, specialist scientific expertise related to the instrument-specific scientific performance.

In addition to your daily work, you will take part in an extensive learning and development programme. From day one, you will learn on the job and benefit from tailored development opportunities, including participation in technical and key skills training courses.

Furthermore, there is a mobility component to the Junior Professional Programme that can be either an internal rotation to another team within ESA, an external secondment outside of ESA or a combination of both. Internal rotations aim to boost your professional experience and knowledge of the European Space Agency, whereas external secondments aim to boost your professional experience and knowledge of the European space sector.

Potential internal rotations include (details to be decided later):

• The Directorate of Science, for the planetary science missions and new instrumentation developments;
• The Directorate of…