ESA Graduate Trainee in Science Platform Hybrid-Cloud Extension Development

Job Requisition ID: 20230

Date Posted: 1 February 2026

Closing Date: 28 February 2026 23:59 CET/CEST

Publication: External Only

Type of Appointment: ESA Graduate Trainee

Directorate: Science

Workplace:

Villanueva de la Cañada, ES

Grade Band: F1 - F1

Location

ESAC, Villanueva de la Cañada, Spain

Our team and mission

ESA maintains a world-leading Science Programme with missions in helio-physics, planetary science, astrophysics and fundamental physics. Its mission is to 'Empower Europe to lead space science'. The Department for Science Operations and Office for Science Engagement and Oversight host together the scientists and engineers that oversee the space missions, from study to end of operations. It defines and develops the science operation systems for the missions and operates the missions in space, as well as archiving and curating their data during operations and beyond. Our main objective is to maximise the scientific output of ESA's space science missions for the benefit of humankind.

You will join the Data Science Section to support the development of the ESA Datalabs science platform and studies related to its extension towards a hybrid-cloud, jointly with the underlying ESDC archives. The Data Science section is a cross-disciplinary team working with various science missions including Euclid, Planck, Gaia, XMM-Newton and JWST and science operations teams. Aside from experts in astronomy, computer science and systems engineering, the section frequently works with many young professionals as well as universities, researchers and students. Through its diverse setup, the section tackles many tasks ranging from technical infrastructure topics over scientific activities to (international) community building efforts around data science and machine learning.

You are encouraged to visit the ESA website: http://www.esa.int

Field(s) of activity/research for the traineeship

The goal of the traineeship is to support the development of our ESA Datalabs science platform and in particular the study towards a hybrid model (on-premises and cloud), planned to be carried out for ESA Datalabs and the Planck and Euclid Q1 science archives.

The platform, ESA Datalabs, is built on top the archives developed by the ESDC (ESAC Science Data Centre) and IT infrastructure provided by the Programmatic IT team. Its objectives are to increase the science return of ESA science missions through offering data exploitation functionalities, leveraging AI and ML projects and providing collaborative research environment. We are looking to extend the current on-premises setup to be capable of running in a distributed setup, with parts of the system deployed at academic institutions or with European cloud providers. This traineeship is an exciting opportunity to learn and apply a wide range of technical skills and to contribute to help scientists improve our understanding of the universe by making science data accessible to researchers worldwide.

Your tasks will include:

• supporting the study and the proof-of-concept related to extending archives and science platform into a distributed cloud setup;
• support the deployment of the Planck and Euclid Q1 archives into a hybrid cloud context;
• support the deployment of the ESA Datalabs science platform into a hybrid cloud context;
• support the integration of the ESA Datalabs science platform with archives in the context of their deployment towards the hybrid cloud context;
• interact with various stakeholders from multiple ESA teams (Data Science, ESDC, Programmatic IT, missions) and external cloud providers;
• if time permits, support other tasks of the Data Science team, such as tests and validation of the ESA Datalabs development, and organization of Data Science workshops at ESAC making use of the platform.
  
  
  

Technical competencies

Knowledge of relevant technical/functional domains

Relevant experience gained during internships, project work and/or extracurricular or other activities

General knowledge of the space sector and relevant activities

Knowledge of ESA and its programmes/projects

Behavioural competencies

Result Orientation

Operational Efficiency

Fostering Cooperation

Relationship Management

Continuous Improvement

Forward Thinking

For more information, please refer to ESA Core Behavioural Competencies guidebook

Education

You should have just completed, or be in the final year of your master’ s degree in computer science or a related field.

Additional Requirements

You should have good interpersonal and communication skills and should be able to work in a multicultural environment, both independently and as part of a team. Previous experience of working in international teams can be considered an asset. Your motivation, overall professional perspective and career goals will also be explored during the later stages of the selection process.

You should also:

• be familiar with software development and software engineering best practices, ideally in both cloud-based and on-premise environments.
• be familiar with, or come with a strong interest, in learning about Kubernetes
  
  
  

Experience in the following areas would be considered an advantage:

• DevOps engineering practices;
• Open-source software development;
• HPC and batch-processing frameworks;
• Tools and languages such as Python, JavaScript, Jupyter and Docker;
• Network infrastructure and security.
  
  
  

Diversity, Equity and Inclusiveness

ESA is an equal opportunity employer, committed to achieving diversity within the workforce and creating an inclusive working environment. We therefore welcome applications from all qualified candidates irrespective of gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religious beliefs, age, disability or other characteristics.

At the Agency we value diversity, and we welcome people with disabilities. Whenever possible, we seek to accommodate individuals with disabilities by providing the necessary support at the workplace. The Human Resources Department can also provide assistance during the recruitment process. If you would like to discuss this further, please contact us via email at [email protected].

Important Information and Disclaimer

During the recruitment process, the Agency may request applicants to undergo selection tests. Additionally, successful candidates will need to undergo basic screening before appointment, which will be conducted by an external background screening service, in compliance with the European Space Agency's security procedures.

The information published on ESA’s careers website regarding working conditions is correct at the time of publication. It is not intended to be exhaustive and may not address all questions you would have.

Nationality and Languages

Please note that applications can only be considered from nationals of one of the following States: Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Nationals from Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia as Associate Member States, or Canada as a Cooperating State, can apply as well as those from Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus and Malta as European Cooperating States (ECS).

According to the ESA Convention, the recruitment of staff must take into account an adequate distribution of posts among nationals of the ESA Member States*. When short-listing for an interview, priority will be given to external candidates from under-represented Member States*.

The working languages of the Agency are English and French. A good knowledge of one of these is required. Knowledge of another Member State language would be an asset.

• Member States, Associate Members or Cooperating States.
  
  
  

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