AOCS Engineer

We are looking for an Attitude and Orbit Control Subsystem Engineer (E3) to join our Akkodis Aerospace team, working onsite at the European Space Agency in the Netherlands.

Akkodis has proudly supported the Aerospace & Defence industry in the Netherlands for decades. Our partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA) has been one of the many success stories allowing our people to expand their career horizons. Akkodis experts are contributing to some of the most important technical advances in Aerospace and Defence which impact the way we live our lives today, through specialised engineering expertise and other required skillsets. This could be your future. Become part of our successful team!

Specific tasks to be performed:

• Provide technical support in the field of AOCS engineering for activities for nanosats and smallsats.
• Contribute to the running of the cubesats AOCS Verification and Validation facility, and to the related testing activities and internal R&D activities, including tools maintenance & enabling rapid prototyping and modern control techniques implementation.
• Provide support in the field of the AOCS engineering for ESA projects, i.e. AOCS design, development, and verification for Earth Observation, or Connectivity & Secure Communication projects, including support to reviews and performing analyses/simulations.
• Provide support to feasibility analyses and Concurrent Design Facility studies.

General tasks to be performed:

• Definition and implementation of AOCS (Attitude and Orbit Control Systems) for Earth Observation, Telecom, Navigation satellites and for Astronomy Observatories. The functional support provided to these projects (e.g. Sentinel, Earth Care, MTG, Alphasat, Small GEO, Galileo, GAIA, Solar Orbiter, ) includes:
• Participation to project reviews (SRR, PDR CDR, ).
• AOCS design, analyses and simulations (control loops design and modelling, FDIR, independent simulator set-up, functional verification and performance budgets).
• Review of AOCS SW implementation.
• Sensors and actuators selection and procurement support.
• AIV/AIT support (test benches, review of test plans and test results).
• Operations support (review of Operations Manual, rehearsal and LEOP).
• Support to in-orbit analysis.
• Conception, initialisation and supervision of corresponding enabling AOCS technology R/D: High Accuracy Pointing, Generic AOCS Architecture & Building Blocks, Innovative AOCS & FDIR Solutions including prototyping and tools development.
• Sensors and inertial actuators technology development: APS, Star Trackers, sun sensors, Earth sensors, magnetometers, gyros, accelerometers, magneto-torquers, reaction wheels, CMG's.
• Development and utilisation of the Control Hardware Laboratory (e.g. sensor characterisation and testing).
• Maintenance, development and set-up of AOCS simulation tools.
• Participation to the elaboration and promotion of ECSS standards in the E60 domain.

To successfully perform the above mentioned tasks, the following background / experience is required:

• Master degree in Control and Aerospace Engineering.
• General background and specific experience in the technical domains (AOCS subsystem architecture, design, testing and verification) covered by the position
• Hands-on experience including AOCS HW, SW and AOCS testing, as well as AOCS modelling.
• Project support experience in a relevant domain (Smallsat and nanosat AOCS, and possibly AOCS on ESA missions in the field of for Earth Observation, or Connectivity & Secure Communication)
• Proven experience in the design, tuning, analysis and simulation of AOCS systems in different project phases.
• HW knowledge (sensors, computer, actuators).
• AOCS AIT at subsystem and system level.
• Proven knowledge of commercial model-based design tools (MATLAB).
• Ability to interface with industry.

About ESA-ESTEC

The European Space Agency (ESA) has sites in several European countries.

The European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), has grown into ESA's largest establishment and the technical and organizational hub of Europe's space sector. Missions designed and tested at ESTEC are circling Earth, have landed on planetary bodies and have probed far into the Solar System.

The infrastructure and equipment assembled here, together with the expert knowhow of its 2800 personnel, make ESTEC a unique resource for Europe. The work done here by teams skilled in every aspect of engineering for space has enabled the creation of novel communication, navigation and information services, creating new jobs and growth while improving the lives of European and world citizens.

Please send your CV to before 11/07/2025