The best space job of the week?

Hello hello

This week, as it now is becoming routine, brings some new funding news and new contracts and industry moves. Europe is currently betting on quite novel technologies and that’s just great news.

And if you’re looking for a move, this might be a good week for you. We’ve got everything from research to hands on engineering and management roles.

Off we go 👇

🚀 Spotlight: New on findaspacejob.com

Here are some of the best space jobs available today:

• PhD Researcher – Orbital Data Centers @ University of Luxembourg (Luxembourg)

  👉 Orbital data centers are the next big thing (and it’s not me who says it… just think that SpaceX acquired xAI just for that). So great opportunity to join the wave early.

• Technology R&D Engineer @ ESA (Netherlands)

  👉 Help develop and research novel technology for ESA and future space missions.

• Technical Bid Manager @ Simera Sense (France)

  👉 A critical role for any space company: turn ideas into signed contracts!

• Constellations Satellite Systems Engineer @ Airbus (Spain)

  👉 What can we say? Probs the best job of the week… you’d better be quick as it might expire very soon!!

• PhD Position: Combining Integral Field Spectroscopy and Coronagraphy @ Paris Observatory (France)

  👉 If you love python, optics and exoplanets (and of course want to suffer do a PhD) you’ll enjoy this!

• Space Project Manager @ Bertin Technologies (France)

  👉 New job alert? 👀 This one is for you if you want to lead optical payload and OGSE projects for top-tier missions, working with agencies and New Space customers.

• AIT, Operations and Launcher Interface Manager @ ESA (Netherlands)

  👉 Own the AIT, operations and launch campaigns for ESA’s 20-satellite Sterna constellation, sitting at the critical interface between satellites, launcher and EUMETSAT.

And these are not all. If you don’t see a role you like here, go check the job board for the full list. And also tell me: what role are you looking for?

🗞️ News: funding doesn’t stop

Vyoma wins contract to monitor space debris

If you listened to last week's podcast on space traffic management, this news is going to sound very familiar. Vyoma just secured an ESA contract to track small space debris directly from orbit.

The problem they are solving is simple: ground-based radars struggle to detect the really tiny debris that ESA needs to map for its collision models. So, Vyoma is doing it from space. Their Flamingo-1 satellite is flying at 510 km with a massive field of view, capturing the small stuff in-situ. It’s a great real-world validation of the exact "sensors in space" approach we were just talking about.

And if you didn’t listen to it… why not do so now?

Europe pushes hard on Direct-to-Device 

OQ Technology just landed €25M from the European Investment Bank to expand its D2D (direct to device, meaning your phone connects directly to the satellite) constellation. They plan to launch 20+ satellites in the next two years to support text this year, and full voice by 2027.

This is a massive signal: having a sovereign European D2D player is officially a strategic priority for the EU. Oh, and they plan to double their headcount to over 100 this year. (Yes, that means they'll be hiring!)

Eutelsat's €1.5 billion financial manoeuvre 

Eutelsat is raising €1.5 billion in new bonds. But before you think they are going on a massive satellite shopping spree, this is purely for refinancing.

They are essentially borrowing fresh money to pay off older, more expensive loans (something relatively normal). With over €2.6B in net debt and massive financial commitments to both OneWeb and the EU's IRIS2 constellation, they need all the breathing room they can get right now.

The Canary Islands constellation gets real (and smaller) 

Telespazio Ibérica just won a €20M contract to build an Earth observation constellation for the Canary Islands. The original plan called for eight satellites, but the actual contract is now for three operational sats and one tech demonstrator launching in 2027.

As a bit of a fun fact there was this original/ambitious idea of launching the rockets directly from an offshore rocket launch platform… but of course that’s not happening any time soon. Building a spaceport would probably cost more than the constellation's entire budget 🤷‍♂️

Avio cashes in on the US defense boom 

Italian rocket builder Avio is crossing the Atlantic in a big way. They just confirmed a massive $500 million solid rocket motor manufacturing facility in Virginia.

Why? Because the US Armed Forces and big primes (like Lockheed and Raytheon) need more missiles and Avio's defense business is absolutely booming. To make things better, Virginia is offering them nearly $100M in incentives if they create 1000 jobs. Not a bad move.

💬 Tiny feedback corner

The goal of this newsletter is to be actually useful. How am I doing?

So please tell me: what do you want to see MORE of, and what do you want to see LESS of?

A lot of the recent updates came directly from your emails (here’s the proof), so keep the suggestions (and complaints) coming. I read (and I’m in the process of replying) every single one.

If for some reason you’ve reached this point and are looking for something else, you can watch this Falcon 9 reentry clip which is quite nice 😎

This is all for this week!

Until next Thursday!

P.S. Hiring? Post your role here

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