work in close cooperation with other staff in the Directorate of Earth Observation Programmes;
collaborate with scientists and engineers in other divisions of ESA;
invest time mainly in the agreed research topics;
provide support to the Φ-lab’s industrial and internal activities;
mentor members of our research network;
engage in outreach activities all generally but not exclusively related to your research topic;
undertake advanced research activities exploring and expanding the use of disruptive and transformative innovation such as AI, machine learning, quantum computing and edge computing to develop new frameworks and solutions;
support the definition and implementation of rapid prototyping activities, research sprints and open challenges of innovative EO solutions.

recently completed, or be close to completion of a PhD in a related technical or scientific discipline;
Experience with hardware benchmarking for edge computing (e.g. FPGAs, TPUs, VPUs and GPUs) and edge learning (e.g. GPUs and FPGAs) paradigms;
Experience in the design of edge computing data processing chains;
Sound knowledge of computing architectures, such as RISC, CISC and SIMD, VLSI processes, edge AI design flow, embedded systems, machine learning and data science;
Basic knowledge of onboard AI, 3CS concepts, satellite systems and space missions;
the ability to think outside the box and explore new avenues, with natural curiosity and a passion for new subjects and research areas;
Basic knowledge of AI agents and large language models;
Experience with one or more general-purpose programming languages, for example Python, and general-purpose deep learning frameworks, such as Tensorflow or PyTorch;
Interest in and ability to share knowledge with other ESA organisational units.

a stimulating multinational, interdisciplinary and open work environment;
access to high-performance computing infrastructure and unparalleled EO and technology expertise;
a unique opportunity to work on innovative solutions to address global challenges;
freedom and focus to conduct creative research while making an impact in relation to ESA’s strategy;
a wide network of relationships and collaboration with top academia, industry and research centres;
the opportunity to contribute to the Φ-lab strategy and activities.

Internal Research Fellow, Onboard Data Handling, Cognitive Cloud Computing in Space

Key skills