Satellite Verification & Validation Engineer

In this role you will become an integral part of Aerospacelab’s V&V team as a Satellite V&V engineer, with a specialization in validating new releases of the flight software for all Aerospacelab satellites & managing our test scripting library.

Aside from these specialization activities, you will be fully responsible for the V&V activities of a specific space mission. This includes the daily management, planning & execution of V&V campaigns. These campaigns 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 design, assembly, integration & verification process. Throughout these campaigns, you will increase your understanding of how the satellite works internally (both flight software & hardware). To conclude the project, you will participate in the launch campaign of the satellite.

At Aerospacelab, we strive to innovate in a fun and inclusive work environment. We work in short cycles – no waiting for years before seeing code go live & get valuable feedback. Expect an exciting job, where you will learn constantly and contribute to building state-of-the-art software. Lastly we promote flexibility within the organization: depending on your skill set and motivation, there will be opportunities to take on more responsibilities and even changing roles.

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

• Main activities:
• • Follow & validate new flight software releases in close collaboration with our flight software team and spacecraft operations team: validate in-flight SW updates, follow the operation of the satellite, identify test gaps & lessons learned, improve our test scope. Support the investigation of non-conformances. Pro-actively look for any means to automate this process further.
  • Manage & extend our test scripting libraries.

• Become responsible for all functional verification & validation activities for a specific satellite project, at subsystem/system/mission level:
• • Write system test specifications & test plans, based on the requirements of the project.
  • Develop & execute scripts, based on the test specifications, in collaboration with the systems engineer & engineering teams. Manage the mission’s test setups, either in ISO clean rooms or our test laboratories.
  • Collect & analyze 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.

• Possibility to support designing, developing and deploying our test automatization & execution software tool, including frontend & backend SW development.
• 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.

• Bachelor, Master or PhD degree in either Software Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related field.
• Experience working with:
• • Programming languages; script programming and debugging (Python, JavaScript, Tcl, et cetera).
  • Data structures & algorithms.
  • IDEs (Visual Studio, IntelliJ, or other).
  • Version control tools (Gitlab, Github, et cetera).
  • Linux distributions & shell.
• Very pro-active in looking for efficiency improvements & solutions to problems.
• Very good in problem solving.
• Eye for detail and high quality standards.
• Demonstrated ability to work autonomously across teams and to help drive multi-disciplinary projects to completion.
• Good communication skills. Fluency in English, both written and verbal.

• Good satellite system-level thinking, basic to good understanding of the major subsystems of a satellite and how they interact with each other.
• Experience with functional or electrical AITV activities, space software (flight and/or ground) or satellite systems engineering.
• Programming languages & libraries for backend (Python, Java, C, C++,…), frontend (TypeScript, JavaScript,…) or microcontroller development.
• Experience with one or more of the following technologies (or equivalent):
• • Testing frameworks, unit testing libraries, mocking.
  • Backend: FastAPI, MongoDB, InfluxDB, django
  • Frontend: Grafana, VueJS, Vuetify, Chart.js
  • CI/CD: Gitlab, Docker, Harbor
  • Orchestration tools: Kubernetes
  • Agile SW development practices & processes.
  • Database systems (relational DBMS (SQL), NoSQL, other).
• Experience with Raspberry Pi’s or equivalent.
• Basic knowledge of EE systems; communication protocols such as UART, I²C.
• 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.
• Experience with reading & preparing technical documentation.
• Knowledge of the ECSS space standards relating to testing, verification, systems engineering, quality and/or SW.