RAMS (Reliability, Availability, Maintainability and Safety) Engineer - European Space Agency (Noordwijk)

Contract Type Other
Deadline 21 August 2026

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.

Job Requisition ID:20793

Date Posted:24 July 2026

Closing Date:21 August 2026 23:59 CET/CEST

Publication:Internal & External

Directorate:Technology, Engineering and Quality

**Location**

ESTEC, Noordwijk, Netherlands

## **Description**

You will be assigned as RAMS (reliability, availability, maintainability and safety) Engineer in the RAMS Section, Quality and Product Assurance Management Division, Quality Department, Directorate of Technology, Engineering and Quality.

The Section provides dependability and safety support to all ESA projects, and is also in charge of the development, implementation and maintenance of dependability and safety expertise and standards. It carries out technological research and development (R&D) in the fields of RAMS requirements, techniques, methodologies and tools. It also supports RAMS-related standardisation and training activities.

## **Duties**

You will report to the Head of Section and, within the technical fields described above, your main tasks and responsibilities when taking up duties at ESA will include:

* providing technical support and expertise to ESA projects in the RAMS field throughout all project phases; * supporting technical risk assessments of ESA missions during the conceptual design phase at the Concurrent Design Facility; * supporting the spacecraft safety submissions process in the context of launch campaigns; * contributing to the proposal, definition and management of R&D activities covering ESA’s long- and short-term needs; * contributing to the definition of technology development requirements and work plans for the Agency’s technology programmes; * contributing to ESA dependability and safety policies, requirements and standards; * maintaining Agency and industry technical competence through training, symposiums and workshops; * monitoring applicable scientific and technological trends, and maintaining state-of-the-art expertise; * contributing to the dissemination of the results of activities performed and the transfer of knowledge across the Agency.

Your duties may also include other activities within your field of competence.

## **Technical competencies**

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

Understanding of related technologies and R&D trends and familiarity with the industrial landscape

Project support experience in a relevant domain

Experience in the management and monitoring of industrial activities, including participation in reviews

Experience with Space Quality Standards and their preparation and implementation

Experience with the application of RAMS tools and methods at System, Satellite or Payload level

Experience with the preparation and delivery of Dependability and Safety training

## **Behavioural competencies**

## **Education and professional experience**

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

## **Additional requirements**

Experience in performing RAMS analyses: reliability and availability predictions, failure mode effects analysis (FMEA), fault tree analysis (FTA) and hazard analysis.

Experience in performing other RAMS analyses (such as Petri-Nets, Markov graph or common cause analysis) would be an asset.

Experience with the preparation or review of spacecraft safety data packages in the context of the safety submission process for launch campaigns would be an asset, as would knowledge of space centre safety regulations.

An educational background with a specialisation in a RAMS discipline is desirable.

Position details

Reference
1418653233
Last Verified
24 July 2026

Position overview

This is the official EU Careers listing for RAMS (Reliability, Availability, Maintainability and Safety) Engineer at ESA based in Noordwijk (Other). The vacancy reference is 1418653233.

Job Requisition ID:20793

Date Posted:24 July 2026

Closing Date:21 August 2026 23:59 CET/CEST

Publication:Internal & External

Directorate:Technology, Engineering and Quality

Location

ESTEC, Noordwijk, Netherlands

## Description

You will be assigned as RAMS (reliability, availability, maintainability and safety) Engineer in the RAMS Section, Quality and Product Assurance Management Division, Quality Department, Directorate of Technology, Engineering and Quality.

The Section provides dependability and safety support to all ESA projects, and is also in charge of the development, implementation and maintenance of dependability and safety expertise and standards. It carries out technological research and development (R&D) in the fields of RAMS requirements, techniques, methodologies and tools. It also supports RAMS-related standardisation and training activities.

## Duties

You will report to the Head of Section and, within the technical fields described above, your main tasks and responsibilities when taking up duties at ESA will include:

* providing technical support and expertise to ESA projects in the RAMS field throughout all project phases; * supporting technical risk assessments of ESA missions during the conceptual design phase at the Concurrent Design Facility; * supporting the spacecraft safety submissions process in the context of launch campaigns; * contributing to the proposal, definition and management of R&D activities covering ESA’s long- and short-term needs; * contributing to the definition of technology development requirements and work plans for the Agency’s technology programmes; * contributing to ESA dependability and safety policies, requirements and standards; * maintaining Agency and industry technical competence through training, symposiums and workshops; * monitoring applicable scientific and technological trends, and maintaining state-of-the-art expertise; * contributing to the dissemination of the results of activities performed and the transfer of knowledge across the Agency.

Your duties may also include other activities within your field of competence.

## Technical competencies

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

Understanding of related technologies and R&D trends and familiarity with the industrial landscape

Project support experience in a relevant domain

Experience in the management and monitoring of industrial activities, including participation in reviews

Experience with Space Quality Standards and their preparation and implementation

Experience with the application of RAMS tools and methods at System, Satellite or Payload level

Experience with the preparation and delivery of Dependability and Safety training

## Behavioural competencies

## Education and professional experience

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

## Additional requirements

Experience in performing RAMS analyses: reliability and availability predictions, failure mode effects analysis (FMEA), fault tree analysis (FTA) and hazard analysis.

Experience in performing other RAMS analyses (such as Petri-Nets, Markov graph or common cause analysis) would be an asset.

Experience with the preparation or review of spacecraft safety data packages in the context of the safety submission process for launch campaigns would be an asset, as would knowledge of space centre safety regulations.

An educational background with a specialisation in a RAMS discipline is desirable.

Application timeline

This vacancy was first listed on 24 July 2026, today.

The application deadline is 21 August 2026, 27 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 24 July 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.

Career trajectory

Career progression for this grade staff is governed by Articles 44 to 46 of the Staff Regulations (consolidated text on EUR-Lex) and Annex IB on the promotion procedure. Step increases are automatic every two years (Art. 44); grade promotion is competitive, based on the appraisal exercise (Art. 45) and the Career Development Review. For roles at ESA, progression to the next grade typically takes three to five years on merit, with two-yearly step increases in between. Article 46 governs the classification at recruitment, which sets the starting step within the grade (usually step 1 for external recruits without prior EU service, step 2 or 3 where relevant professional experience is recognised).
Mobility within the institutions is encouraged via the inter-institutional and intra-institutional vacancy publication system: temporary agents who pass the probation period and reservists from EPSO laureate lists can typically apply to internal vacancies after one year of service. Lateral moves between Directorates-General reset the seniority clock for promotion only if the new post carries a different grade.

Language profile

Beyond the formal language requirements stated in the vacancy notice, the day-to-day working languages at this employer are English and French in roughly equal measure, with German appearing in some technical files. Internal meetings and most policy drafting in Brussels run in English; French remains the preferred internal language in Luxembourg-based services and parts of DG TRADE.

Application cadence

ESA has not advertised another comparable role with the same grade and subject signature in the past twenty-four months. This opening has rarely been seen on the EU Careers feed and may be the first such posting in our two-year window. Applicants who pass the eligibility checks should not assume the same profile will reopen on a predictable cadence.

Source: This job listing was sourced from the official EU Careers portal (EPSO). First published: .

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