Satellite Verification & Validation Engineer

Aerospacelab

Mont-Saint-Guibert, Belgium

Role Overview

In this role you will become an integral part of Aerospacelab’s V&V team as a Satellite V&V engineer, with an added responsibility to manage our test infrastructure & take the lead in developing infrastructure improvements (either H/W or S/W related).

Aside from these infrastructure activities, you will be fully responsible for the functional V&V activities of a specific space mission. This includes the planning, preparation & execution of V&V campaigns which are executed on representative avionics test benches, as well as on the satellite’s flight model that will eventually be launched into space. Through scripting, you will interact with the satellite or equivalent test setups to verify and validate their design and good workmanship. In a short timeline, you will have the opportunity to get in touch with the different verification phases of the satellite’s lifecycle (from conception to post-launch). Throughout these campaigns, you will increase your understanding of how the satellite works internally (both flight software & hardware units related to the different satellite subsystems), as well as in the context of its operational usage. You will participate in the launch campaign of the satellite, with satellite preparation & configuration activities on the launcher’s site. After launch, you will be responsible for continuously validating new flight software updates, in close collaboration with the flight software team and operational team.

If you are motivated to explore a unique combination of test infrastructure management within the context of pragmatic & quality-focused satellite V&V in the space sector… this position is for you.

Key Activities, Duties & Responsibilities

Test infrastructure management:
- Managing all avionics test benches (“flatsats”, each representing a mission) and flight model setups: ensuring maximal availability, proper configuration, support & coordination of their usage over multiple teams in the company;
- Anticipating the overall test infrastructure needs over various current and future space missions, following up on procuring spacecraft H/W units, specialized test equipment, IT infrastructure, etc. Continuously re-evaluating & proposing overall infrastructure improvements;
- Managing the flatsat user system that tracks configurations, health status, automatically warns for issues, etc. Anticipating and collecting flatsat user needs & new requested features;
- Designing & implementing usability & efficiency improvements of this system (SW development opportunity, depending on your profile);
- Opportunity to design & develop mechanical or electrical test support elements (depending on your profile).
Become responsible for all functional verification & validation activities for a specific satellite project, at subsystem/system/mission level:
- Writing and maintaining system test specifications & test plans, based on the requirements of the project, in close collaboration with the mission’s systems engineer, project manager and subsystem experts;
- Develop & execute scripts, based on the test specifications;
- Manage the mission’s test setups (consisting of spacecraft units, test equipment, support equipment, …), either in ISO clean rooms or our test laboratories;
- Collect & analyse the data after execution, in close collaboration with the systems engineer, subsystem experts or the product owners of individual spacecraft units. Report in detail on the test results & contribute to the post-analysis. Generate & follow up on potential problem reports (non-conformances); assist in finding the root cause, solution/mitigation and lessons learned for the future.
Contribute to our brainstorming sessions, knowledge base improvements, knowledge sharing sessions & internal processes improvements;
Continuously look for opportunities and the means to increase the team’s efficiency.

Must have skills (or very motivated to learn)

Bachelor, Master or PhD degree in Aerospace Engineering, Software Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Electromechanical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or a related field;
Experience with functional or electrical AITV activities, space software (flight and/or ground) or satellite systems engineering;
Good satellite system-level thinking, basic to good understanding of the major subsystems of a satellite and how they interact with each other;
A first experience in script programming and debugging (Python, JavaScript, Tcl, et cetera), familiarity with Linux distributions & shell;
Comfortable with handling sensitive space-qualified units, as well as test equipment such as oscilloscopes, multimeters, spectrum analysers, base band equipment, et cetera. In case of no experience, willing to learn how to operate them;
Eye for detail and high quality standards, “hands-on” & proactive profile;
Very pro-active in looking for efficiency improvements & solutions to problems;
Demonstrated ability to work autonomously across teams to help bring multi-disciplinary projects to completion;
Experience with reading & preparing detailed and complex technical documentation;
Good communication, coordination skills;
Fluency in English, both written and verbal.

Nice to have skills (or motivated to learn)

Experience with Raspberry Pi’s or equivalent;
Experience with working in ISO clean rooms;
Basic knowledge of electrical systems;
Mechanical design & development;
Experience working with programming languages; specifically for backend (Python, Java, C, C++,…), frontend (TypeScript, JavaScript,…) or script programming and debugging (Python, JavaScript, Tcl, et cetera);
Knowledge of the ECSS standards relating to testing, verification, systems engineering, quality, SW.

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