Quality Assurance Competence Area Manager

Quality Assurance Competence Area Manager

EUMETSAT - European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites

Darmstadt, Germany

EUMETSAT is Europe’s meteorological satellite agency, operating a fleet of satellites delivering weather and climate-related satellite data and images to our users worldwide; helping protect lives, property and industries. Further satellites are in preparation for launch.

The Quality Assurance Competence Area (QA CA) provides quality assurance services and support to all Departments, Programmes and Projects. The successful candidate will functionally manage the quality assurance engineers working in matrix arrangement as integrated functional support directly in the teams they work for. As key person you will have the responsibility for the management and delivery of the Quality Assurance support in line with quality assurance standards, the needs of the organisation and best practices.

Reporting to the Head of Process Assurance and Management Support Division (PRS), you will also get the unique opportunity to contribute with your expertise, leadership skills and strategic mind-set to all quality assurance activities across EUMETSAT.

What you’ll be doing

In this role you will be in charge of the following:

• Manage the Quality Assurance Competence Area (QA-CA), including securing the continued availability of Quality Assurance expertise and know-how;
• Manage the delivery of quality assurance support to all Departments, including management processes, products and services, that provide reasonable assurance that programmes/projects and routine activities will meet their assigned targets;
• In line with the EUMETSAT Management System, implement, maintain and continually improve Quality Assurance Framework, promoting the use of a cross-departmental, coherent and harmonised suite of Quality Assurance working practices in line with specific programme/project needs, and establish/maintain related metrics;
• Support the implementation of QA processes at all levels in the organisation, such as risk management, lesson learned, anomalies management;
• Ensure implementation of QA requirements in relevant contracts, identifying issues, risks, non-conformities and associated implications;
• Organise and perform Quality Audits on Contractors in line with established contractual requirements and procurement needs. Perform and/or support EUMETSAT internal quality audits, in coordination with the Quality Management unit.

What we offer

• Excellent salary, of up to Euro 8,000 NET (after income tax) based on skills and experience;
• Flexible working time including additional flexi-leave;
• Full medical coverage for employee and family;
• Attractive pension;
• 30 days of annual leave + 14.5 days public holidays;
• Training and development support;
• Relocation allowance and support (if applicable).

Requirements

Qualifications:

• University degree in a relevant discipline. A Master’s degree would be an advantage.

Skills and Experience:

As successful candidate, you will bring:

• Extensive experience in Quality Assurance, particularly regarding the design, development, IV&V and operations and maintenance of complex, software-intensive systems/products. Experience gained in the field of space programmes would be a distinct advantage;
• Demonstrated experience leading large Quality Assurance teams, developing people, managing performance and ensuring long-term continuity of critical skills;
• Proven experience defining and implementing Quality Assurance policies, objectives, working practices, and procedures;
• Solid knowledge and practice of the following standards: ISO 9000 series; ECSS/EN standards series;
• Sound problem solving/analysis and monitoring skills;
• Certification as a Quality Auditor will be considered as advantage;
• Proactive attitude, strong communication and interpersonal skills, with a proven ability to apply these to working within and across teams, as well as a customer-oriented approach.

Languages:

• Candidates must be able to work effectively in English and have some knowledge of French.

APPLICATIONS MUST BE SUBMITTED IN ENGLISH. WE WILL BE UNABLE TO CONSIDER APPLICATIONS SUBMITTED IN OTHER LANGUAGES.

EUMETSAT is an international organisation employing staff from across all 30 member states and this role is being advertised on multiple international job boards, but please note that this role would be based in Darmstadt, Germany and would require international applicants to relocate if successful.

More about us

EUMETSAT’s role is to establish and operate meteorological satellites to monitor the weather and climate from space - 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. This information is supplied to the National Meteorological Services of the organisation's Member and Cooperating States in Europe, as well as other users worldwide.

EUMETSAT also operates several Copernicus missions on behalf of the European Union and provide data services to the Copernicus marine and atmospheric services and their users.

As an intergovernmental European Organisation, EUMETSAT can recruit nationals only from the 30 Member States (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom).

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