European Space Agency (ESA)
The European Space Security and Education Centre (ESEC) in Redu, Belgium is ESA's centre of excellence for space cybersecurity, hosting the Cyber Security Operations Centre (C-SOC), the Security Cyber Centre of Excellence (SCCOE), the Space Weather Data Centre, and part of ESA's ground station network. This newly created Partnership and Development Officer role is a key strategic appointment for ESEC, sitting within the Directorate of Strategy, Legal and External Matters and reporting directly to the Head of ESEC. The postholder will act as ESA's institutional ambassador for ESEC's security and resilience capabilities — promoting the C-SOC and SCCOE across ESA directorates, identifying and developing partnerships with national cyber authorities (including Cyber Force, ANSSI, CCB, NCCN, CISPA), European institutions (ENISA, Europol, ECSD, DG DEFIS), and international organisations including NATO and the UN. The role spans strategic communication in politically sensitive contexts, foresight analysis on evolving threat scenarios in space, cyber and institutional security, and support for resilience protocols including audit and crisis simulation exercises. For space security and governance professionals, this is one of the most substantive inter-institutional positions currently available in the European space security ecosystem — sitting at the nexus of ESA's technical capabilities, European institutional politics, and the multilateral frameworks governing space and cyber security. Eligibility for personal security clearance by a national security authority is required. The post is 4 years, extendable to indefinite.
Master's degree in a relevant domain plus 2 years of relevant professional experience; or bachelor's degree plus 4 years of relevant experience Excellent leadership and communication skills with ability to represent ESA to senior external stakeholders Experience working under pressure and in politically sensitive environments Ability to operate across technical, institutional, and political levels Strong credibility in networking and negotiation with high-level institutional actors Eligibility for personal security clearance by a national security authority Nationality of an ESA Member State or cooperating state required Good command of English or French (ESA working languages); additional Member State language an asset Desirable: international experience and prior engagement with EU, ESA, or NATO security structures Desirable: certification in crisis management, institutional communication, or data protection