Laboratory Maintenance and Operations Specialist

We are looking for ​Laboratory Maintenance and Operations Specialists​ to complete our consultants Workforce Management Service to support the ​ESA Education Programme​ of the European Space Agency (ESA) at their location in ​Libin, Belgium​.  

In support of the ESA Academy’s Projects and Training pillars, ESA Education operates a suite of training and testing facilities at the ESEC-Galaxia site. These facilities include: 

• an Environmental Test Facility called the CubeSat Support Facility (CSF), equipped with an electrodynamic shaker, thermal vacuum chamber, vacuum oven, and other small test equipment within a dedicated cleanroom; 

• an Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) and Antenna Testing Facility equipped with a multi-probe near-field antenna characterisation system housed in an anechoic chamber, a Gigahertz Transverse Electro-Magnetic (GTEM) cell, and a conducted emissions and susceptibility test bench. The EMC and Antenna lab is under development and expected to be inaugurated in 2026. 

These facilities are used for development, acceptance and qualification testing for student developed hardware as well as for demonstrations and hands-on exercises as part of Training activities. These facilities are supported by mechanical and electrical workshops, which provide tools and equipment for manufacturing test adapters and performing adaptations to test items. 

The Laboratory Maintenance and Operations Specialist supports the maintenance, development, and operation of these facilities. 

Please note, the successful candidate will be employed by ATG Europe (or one of its subsidiaries). Furthermore, upon selection, they will be subject to a general security screening performed by an external provider (further information will be provided at the interview stage). 

ATG is dedicated to diversity and inclusion and is an equal opportunity employer. Regardless of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, handicap or any other reason protected by relevant state or municipal legislation, we are pleased to consider all eligible candidates for employment. 

The successful candidate will be tasked with, but not limited to: 

• Maintain the laboratories and workshops, including planning and arranging regular maintenance and calibration with equipment suppliers; 

• Arrange corrective maintenance and repair of test equipment with external suppliers; 

• Assist in planning, preparing and executing test campaigns at the facility with university teams on CubeSat or other engineering and flight equipment, including the operation of specialised test equipment; an electrodynamic shaker, thermal-vacuum chamber, vacuum oven, antenna characterisation equipment and conducted emissions test bench; 

• Carry-out Facility Readiness, Test Readiness and Post Test Reviews, including reports; 

• Participate in anomaly investigations resulting from testing; 

• Maintain, make available and organise facility and equipment user manuals; 

• Assist in the conduct of health, safety and risk assessment and contribute to the relevant manuals and guidelines; 

• Manage and ensure constant availability to ESA GDPR / ESA data privacy compliant databases of lab users and visitors; 

• Manage, and ensure constant availability to ESA, test campaign databases (test item, team, duration etc.) for statistical purposes; 

• Manage, and ensure constant availability to ESA, equipment usage logs; 

• Support the procurement, preparation and bringing into use of additional test facilities and equipment in the domain of nanosatellites and student developed space hardware; 

• Ensure operational availability of the facilities as required; 

• Develop and deliver facility-specific training to users (university student groups); 

• In coordination with the Training Programme develop and deliver Training Week(s) focused on Spacecraft Testing; 

• Review applications, Test Specifications and Test Protocols for facility users; 

• Attend, and contribute to, meetings with facilities users in preparation for the test campaigns and follow-up meetings following campaigns; 

• Collect feedback from lab users and propose programme adaptations to address issues and lessons learned identified; 

• Manage and guide tours of the facilities with student groups / visitors; 

• Assist with the production of outreach materials including videos and photos, web articles and social media posts relating to the facilities and test campaigns. 

Please ensure that your CV clearly explains how you meet the mandatory requirements. If it doesn’t align completely with the essential criteria, it could result in rejection. 

• Master's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Systems Engineering, Physics, or another relevant technical discipline; 

• Minimum 4 years of relevant professional experience in laboratory operations, test engineering, facility operations, aerospace testing or related technical environments; 

• Experience operating and maintaining laboratory, environmental testing or engineering test equipment; 

• Experience supporting engineering test campaigns, verification activities, qualification testing or experimental activities; 

• Experience planning or coordinating equipment maintenance, calibration activities or technical facility operations; 

• Practical knowledge of environmental testing methods, including vibration, thermal-vacuum, EMC testing or similar engineering verification techniques; 

• Experience preparing and maintaining technical procedures, test documentation, operational reports and equipment records; 

• Experience working within controlled laboratory, cleanroom or testing environments; 

• Familiarity with health, safety and risk assessment procedures applicable to engineering laboratories; 

• Ability to deliver technical training and support facility users; 

• Previous experience working with ESA, space agencies, aerospace organisations, research centres or test facilities is a plus; 

• Experience with CubeSat, nanosatellite or aerospace hardware testing programmes is a plus; 

• Familiarity with thermal-vacuum chambers, vibration testing equipment, EMC facilities, antenna characterisation systems or equivalent aerospace testing infrastructure is a plus; 

• Experience operating laboratory facilities supporting student projects or educational programmes is a plus; 

• Knowledge of ECSS testing and verification approaches is a plus; 

• Experience in outreach, STEM education or technical training activities is a plus; 

• Experience supporting procurement, installation and commissioning of laboratory equipment is a plus; 

• High proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite, especially Excel, Word and PowerPoint; 

• Strong analytical, problem-solving and troubleshooting skills; 

• Ability to work independently and within multidisciplinary technical teams; 

• Candidates must be eligible to work and live in the EU; 

• Fluency in English, both written and spoken. 

Please submit your application in English via the apply button below. Applications submitted in other languages will not be considered.