Head of the RF Payload Engineering and Digital Equipment Section

Description

Head of the Radio Frequency Payload Engineering and Digital Equipment Section in the Radio Frequency Payloads and Technology Division, Electrical Department, Directorate of Technology, Engineering and Quality.

Reporting to the Head of the Radio Frequency Payloads and Technology Division, you, as Head of the Radio Frequency Payload Engineering and Digital Equipment Section, will be responsible for the management of the Section, its resources and activities. In addition, you will be accountable within the Agency for the outcome of the operational activities within the Section’s technical domains.

The Section covers the specification, design, development and verification/testing of:

• telecommunication payloads and subsystems, microwave and millimetre wave remote sensing instruments, and navigation payloads exploiting analogue, digital and optical onboard technologies;
• telemetry, tracking and control (TT&C) subsystems, payload data transmission (PDT) subsystems including deep space and near Earth transponders, proximity and intersatellite (ISL) link equipment, high speed downlink modulators and digital communication equipment;
• radio frequency digital equipment for telecommunication/navigation payloads, radio frequency/microwave and millimetre wave remote sensing instruments and radio frequency subsystems (e.g. TT&C, PDT and ISL), as well as payload signal and data processing techniques.

Duties

Within the technical domains defined above, your tasks and responsibilities will include:

Workload assessment and assignment:

• Managing the workforce of the Section, and distributing and assigning the activities of the Section to its members;
• Establishing the Section’s multi-year plan of activities, covering required competences and assignment of resources;
• Establishing annual objectives and managing and coordinating, on a day-to-day basis, the specialised technical support in the Section’s fields of expertise in full collaboration with the functional managers;
• Actively contributing to the Section’s required  agility and flexibility to meet the short-notice and peak-period resource needs of projects;
• Being accountable for all activities and resources delegated to the Section, and for resolving possible conflicting demands on the use of the Section’s resources.

Talent management:

• Maintaining state-of-the-art expertise in the Section, identifying, developing, maintaining and tracking the technical competences required to meet current and future strategic needs;
• Establishing individual talent management (competence and development) plans for the Section’s members, covering technical and behavioural aspects, in collaboration with functional managers whenever needed;
• Driving the development of people within your area of responsibility, and facilitating the development of people beyond your area of responsibility;
• Encouraging the integration of newcomers and contributing to their initial development plans;
• Managing the functional mobility of staff and staff changes.

Performance management:

• Monitoring, measuring and reporting on performance at individual and team level, in particular regarding the Section objectives;
• Being accountable to the hierarchy for all daily matters within the Section and for achieving the Section’s objectives;
• Being accountable for Section members’ career management, for performing individual performance assessment and merit recognition exercises, and for providing regular feedback.