Open Cosmos is revolutionising the way space technology is used.

Driven by the vision of making space accessible to anyone, we provide simple and affordable space missions using nanosatellite technology. We went from design to delivery of our first nanosatellite qb01 in only four months, followed by its launch and deployment in LEO early April 2017.

The company is currently developing the next generation of satellites and end-to-end services for private and institutional customers to be launched in 2018. Based in the Harwell-Oxford Campus in the UK, we are a young and ambitious team with experience in the aerospace, electronics and software industries. To support our growth and make our vision a reality we are looking for the brightest minds and the best talents in every domain.

The following job opportunity is available:

Description of the position

The successful candidate will be responsible of leading the software development team to design, implement, test, validate, release and upgrade Open Cosmos’ Spacecraft Monitoring and Control Software (qbapp). This will have to be done following a project management methodology that allows quick reallocation of priorities, constant incremental releases and continuous customer feedback during the development of the product.

Open Cosmos’ Spacecraft Monitoring and Control software will be the tool that will run the operations of the fleet of spacecraft in a highly automated manner.

Tasks and responsibilities

• Support in qbapp OPS management
  • Lead qbapp OPS development team in a manner that the team is (recommended approach: Agile methodology such as SCRUM/KANBAN/DEVOPS):
    • Able to quickly react to shift in task priorities
    • Able to perform quick and incremental product releases
    • Able to feed stakeholders’ feedback into the development of the product as this is on-going.
  • Regular reporting to Head of Software and Mission Operations with relevant KPI metrics that show teams performance and evolution
  • Coordinate with Customer Success and Sales teams to ensure high quality operations of the product
• Support in qbapp OPS development
  • Definition of the architecture of all the components of the product
  • Definition of interfaces between components
  • Definition of external qbapp OPS interfaces with Open Cosmos partners
• Support in qbapp OPS T&V campaign
  • Definition of qbapp OPS test campaign and documentation
  • Lead development of qbapp OPS test campaign and documentation
  • Execution of qbapp OPS test campaign and documentation
  • Validation of qbapp OPS
• Real time in-flight operations:
  • Support to real-time operations team as Ground Segment Manager

Skills, attitude, competencies and experience

• Solid proven experience in software development
• Experience in managing complex software development projects following an Agile project management methodology
• Knowledge of spacecraft and ground station operations and what requirements are derived towards a Monitoring and Control Software for space missions.
• Knowledge of  Java
• Experience with Git
• Excellent communication skills (verbal and written)
• Quick learner
• Lean / bootstrap mentality
• Self-driven attitude with problem-solving mentality
• Ready to work for some periods of time under a 24/7 shift rotation
• Ready to be in a 24/7 on-call service to assist contingency operations

Nice to haves

• Experience in spacecraft operations environments