The last email of 2025 (and it's a good one)

Hello everyone

It seems is PhD week (lol) but it’s true. It was a struggle to find non PhD roles this week (but we did it so keep reading!)

With the holidays just around the corner, things might feel like they are winding down... but the industry isn’t stopping.

Yesterday we saw a massive win for European autonomy with the latest Galileo launch. We cover that below, plus a quick look at the "race for orbit" coming in 2026.

Let's get into the last issue of the year 😭👇

🚀 Spotlight: New on findaspacejob.com

Check out some of the best roles of the week!

• PhD Positions Icy Moons and their Oceans @ TU Delft (Netherlands)

  👉 Three internships available (!!!) not just one. So worth checking out.

• Verification & Validation Engineer – Position in LST Project @ IFAE (Spain)

  👉 Great role for those who want and enjoy a happy life filled with sun and nice weather structured testing, PLCs, sensors and all that stuff (or both ;)

• Software Developer/Engineer @ Arca Dynamics (Italy)

  👉 This one is a new one (the company, I mean) and extremely interesting. They provide space-based tracking to pinpoint LEO object positions in near real time. So if you want to help… don’t say I didn’t tell you how to (hint: apply)

• 𝐄𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐫 @ Arca Dynamics (Italy)

  👉 Idem but for an electronical engineer instead. A bit more hands on with hardware but the ‘coolness’ of the role remains.

• PhD student in Earth Science (INFLAMES-Project) @ SRON (Netherlands)

  👉 Work at the intersection of atmospheric satellite data and climate modelling. It’s a very interesting project so if you enjoy atmospheric/climate science and can code this might be for you.

• Intern in the Quality Department, Independent Safety Office for Space Debris Mitigation @ ESA (Netherlands)

  👉 ESA has (as usual) plenty of internships and real ;) job opportunities. This one is a very interesting one. Space debris are a cool topic to work on.

• Intern in the Language Services and Minute-Writing Division, German Translation Section @ ESA (France)

  👉 If this one is the job of your dreams you probably need professional help haha I had to say it 😅🤦‍♂️haha joking, relax.

• Sales and Business Development Manager @ Revolv Space (Italy)

  👉 What the people at Revolv Space pretty much sells itself but they need help managing it all. One of the best non technical positions available today in the space industry in Europe.

Is there a particular role/company you miss here? Reach out and let me know. The more I know about what you want, the better I can tailor this newsletter for you.

🗞️ News Flash: Success for Galileo & Ariane 6 🇪🇺

We mentioned it last week but yesterday it actually happened.

Ariane 6 successfully lifted off from French Guiana yesterday, delivering two new Galileo satellites (SAT 33 & 34) into orbit.

Why it matters: This was the fifth flight of Ariane 6, and it’s arguably one of the most important routine missions it performs. It proves that Europe’s heavy launcher is settling into a “reliable” rhythm for maintaining our own infrastructure (of course still light years away from the reliable rhythm Falcon 9 has got us used to but it’s definitely better than nothing)

The two satellites are now safely in orbit (MEO, to be precise) and will join the constellation to improve navigation accuracy for the billions of devices (probably including your own phone) that rely on Galileo.

You can watch the launch below, I have to say it’s not as nice as Falcon 9 launches but hopefully one day we’ll see the main booster return as well

🔭 Look Ahead: The Year of the Private Rocket?

Since this is our last email of 2025, I wanted to leave you with one big question for next year: is 2026 the year Europe finally gets its own "SpaceX moment"? (Or if not SpaceX moment at least “first-private-orbital-rocket moment”?)

We have been waiting a long time, but 2026 is looking like the year the dam finally breaks for European microlaunchers.

• Isar Aerospace and RFA are pushing hard to reach orbit.

• PLD Space is gearing up for Miura 5.

• Orbex is getting ready in Scotland.

If 2025 was the year of preparation (and some hard lessons), 2026 is shaping up to be the year of flight. It’s going to be a loud one (or so I hope!)

🎄 That is a wrap for 2025!

It’s crazy to think we only launched Find a Space Job back in April.

In just 8 months, we have shared hundreds of roles, interviewed astronauts and investors, and grown this community to way over 1000 professionals 🤯 and launched what’s undeniably the absolute best job board out there (what can I say, right)

Whether you are here to find a job, hire for your team (or just keep a up to date on the industry), thank you for opening these emails every Thursday. It means a lot.

We are taking a break for the holidays (I don’t expect any of you to open an email on Christmas Day anyway!). We will be back in your inbox on January 8th ready to attack the new year.

One final request before I go: I’ve really enjoyed doing the Career Spotlight interviews recently (thanks Alejandro, Hanna, Bruno!) so I want to do more of them next year. We have covered some very interesting roles but now I want to find some other not so common roles that keep the industry moving.

Do you know someone working in:

• Launch range safety, launch operations… and related

• Space medicine

• AIT (typical but I love this role)

• Human spaceflight (ISS or related)

If you do (or if that is you!), please reply to this email. I’d love to showcase how broad this industry really is.

Thank you for reading, sharing and applying this year. Hope you have a great Christmas and a happy new year filled with new and very cool (and high paying 😎) jobs!

See you in 2026!!

P.S. The job board stays open 24/7, so if you get bored of the family dinners, you can still browse roles here.

P.S.S. Don’t tell me you didn’t find this funny haha. In fact it’s quite aligned with this week’s astronomy/science PhD roles and the Christmas season, no?

As usual: connect on LinkedIn and follow the Find a Space Job for updates.

👉 Looking for a role?
Know someone hunting for their next space role in Europe? Forwarding this email is a great way to help them out. And if you haven’t subscribed: you can do so here.

📣 Hiring in aerospace?
Get in touch if you’d want to share your job with the Find a Space Job community. You can do so here.