System Administrator

Description

Welcome to SSC Space (formerly Swedish Space Corporation), the perfect workplace for those passionate about technology in general and space in particular. 

With space organizations, research institutes, institutional and commercial actors as customers, we offer specialist expertise in satellite communications, space consulting services, rocket and balloon systems, flight test services, satellite propulsion systems, and much more.

SSC Space also has one of the world’s largest global networks of ground stations for satellite communications. We own and operate the Esrange Space Center in Kiruna, northern Sweden, with the aim of launching satellites in the near future. 

Are you fueled by a passion for people and the ambition to create an awesome workplace? Are you ready to embark on an exciting journey with us to help earth benefit from space? 

If you answer yes to these questions, we invite you to seize the opportunity to make a significant impact. We are looking for a dedicated professional who shares our core values of Customer passion, Care, Collaboration, Curiosity, and Courage.

As part of the service to the ESA Programmatic IT Section you will be one of the System Analyst in the Infrastructure and Cybersecurity (I&C) team.

The I&C sub-unit provides IT services, solutions and consultancy in scientific and operations IT infrastructure and cybersecurity across the department. I&C also designs, operates, maintains, and evolves this scientific and operations IT infrastructure. Infrastructure main areas are:

• Science data storage, preservation and distribution
• Science data processing
• Datacentre & common Science and Operations Department (SCI-S) IT infrastructure
• Science research environments
• Cosmos portal and services IT infrastructure
• IT Security

Requirements

The following skills are required:

• Master Degree in Information Technology, Computer Science or equivalent qualification with at least 4 years of relevant experience.
• Senior System Administration
  Extensive experience in Linux/Unix system administration (preferably on Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Oracle Solaris), including:
  • Service design, deployment and lifecycle management
  • Monitoring, logging and performance tuning
  • Backup, restore and disaster recovery procedures
  • Patch management and platform upgrades
  • Security hardening and access control
  • Scripting and automation for operational efficiency (Shell, Python)
• Infrastructure & Networking Expertise: Strong hands-on knowledge of infrastructure networking, including TCP/IP, DNS, SMTP, routing, firewalls and load balancing. Able to diagnose complex cross-system and cross-network issues in production environments.
• Operational Excellence & Incident Response: Proven ability to lead and execute incident response for production systems, remaining calm and structured during outages, performing root cause analysis and implementing long-term fixes and preventive measures.

Other skills not fully required but valued are:

• Directory Services & Identity Management
  Deep understanding of LDAP-based directory services, preferably Oracle Unified Directory (OUD), including schema design, authentication flows, authorization models and integration with dependent systems.
• Messaging & Collaboration Infrastructure
  Senior-level experience managing enterprise mail and collaboration platforms, preferably Zimbra, as well as mailing list services such as Mailman, including upgrades, migrations and incident troubleshooting.
• Configuration Management & Infrastructure Automation
  Experience with configuration management and automation tools such as Puppet and/or Ansible, used to enforce configuration consistency, reduce manual effort and improve operational reliability.
• Hybrid / Transitional Infrastructure Experience
  Experience working in mixed environments that combine modern automation practices with legacy or long-running systems and the ability to evolve such environments pragmatically and safely.
• Collaboration, Documentation & Version Control
  Experience working with collaboration and version control platforms, preferably Atlassian Jira, Confluence and Bitbucket, for issue tracking, documentation and managing infrastructure-related code and configurations.

Legal and Security Requirements

• All applicants must be legally allowed to work in Netherlands without the need to obtain a work visa. Only European Union (EU), European Economic Area (EEA) and SWISS citizens can be employed by SSC Space in Netherland.
• Applicants are required to provide a copy of their passport and degree certificate. Aurora will validate the Degree with the issuing University and provide evidence to ESA.
• In line with ESA’s security requirements, prior to issuing a letter of employment the applicant shall provide to Aurora a recent official document declaring that they are of good conduct from the country where currently resident, and Aurora will validate your employment history.

Responsibilities

You will have the following responsibilities:

• Assist in defining IT Infrastructure requirements into solutions.
• Supporting and maintaining ESA’s science IT infrastructures.
• Support users via the Service Desk
• Ensure good documentation on supporting and enhancing the IT infrastructure.

Benefits

• All employees receive good remuneration in line with function and experience.
• When autonomous then teleworking can often be utilised.
• Will be registered for both social security and tax in the Netherlands.
• The standard working hours are 40 per week.
• There are 12 public holidays and an additional 30 annual days holiday.
• Training to improve efficiency and provide strength for future career are of course included.
• SSC Space Netherlands contributes 15,4% of pensionable salary to a company pension scheme and employees can optionally make additional contributions.

SSC Space is a leading global provider of advanced space services, with more than 50 years of experience. We help space organizations, research institutes, commercial and institutional actors from all over the world to get access to space.

With local presence on all continents and about 750 committed employees, we offer specialist expertise in satellite communications and satellite control services, spacecraft operations, rocket and balloon systems, launch services and flight test services, as well as engineering, operations and consultancy services for space missions. 

We help Earth benefit from space. Learn more at sscspace.com