COMPAGNY

Founded in Lyon in 1998, ALCADIA is an engineering company and a key partner to major stakeholders and prime contractors in the nuclear and space industries. ALCADIA leverages and adapts its core expertise (functional analysis, dependability and safety engineering, etc.) to other high-tech industrial sectors with demanding technical and operational challenges.

From systems engineering and risk management to worksite supervision, commissioning, and operations & maintenance, ALCADIA supports its clients on a daily basis in the successful delivery of their projects.

The multidisciplinary background of its employees, combined with their autonomy, adaptability, and strong communication skills, enables ALCADIA to provide and implement the most appropriate resources to meet its clients’ expectations.

Through a management approach based on strong values such as accountability, trust, initiative, and continuous skills development through training, ALCADIA places employee fulfilment and success at the heart of its strategy. Motivated and committed professionals who fully invest themselves in the successful completion of their assignments are the driving force behind the company’s achievements.

DESCRIPTION

Type of contract: Full-time

Location:ESTEC, Noordwijk (The Netherlands) and/ or ECSAT, Harwell (United Kingdom) with missions to industrial consortia and international partners as required

Expected Start Date: From January 2027

MISSIONS

ALCADIA is seeking an experienced Schedule and Risk Management Engineer to support ESA’s CIP programmes and projects.

The successful candidate will provide expert planning, schedule control and risk management support to ESA Project Managers, Project Controllers and project teams.

The role covers baseline development, industrial schedule assessment, critical path analysis, schedule risk analysis, reporting, recovery planning and continuous improvement of methods and tools.

Schedule Planning and Control

•  Coordinate schedule and risk support across projects, ensuring harmonised approaches, tools, processes and reporting.

•  Develop, configure, maintain and control project baseline and working schedules in coordination with ESA project teams.

•  Analyse schedules received from industrial consortia using quality metrics, critical path analysis, float analysis and agreed schedule KPIs.

•  Monitor schedule performance against the approved baseline and prepare deviation reports, milestone trend charts, dashboards and periodic status reports.

•  Verify consistency between industrial schedules and proactively interface with industrial teams to obtain current information.

•  Run simulations and what-if scenarios and provide recommendations for schedule improvement, recovery and acceleration.

Risk Management and Expert Support

•  Support project risk management processes, mitigation planning, action follow-up and preparation of risk-adjusted schedules.

•  Provide expert inputs during procurement activities, CCBs, IPREV, PDR, CDR and other major programmatic or technical reviews.

•  Support the definition and update of Schedule and Risk Management Plans and related industrial management requirements.

•  Configure and administer schedule and risk tools and support the development, testing and introduction of new tools, dashboards and potential AI applications.

•  Contribute to QMS audits, standards, procedures, lessons learned, knowledge management and training for ESA teams.

SKILLS

We are looking for an experienced and analytical professional holding a Master’s degree in Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Project Management, Industrial Engineering, or a related technical field, with at least 5 years of demonstrated experience in complex project scheduling, critical path analysis, schedule risk management, and planning support for large-scale engineering or industrial programmes.

The ideal candidate combines strong technical expertise in planning and risk management with excellent communication and stakeholder management skills. They are capable of assessing complex project schedules, identifying potential risks and deviations, and providing practical recommendations to support successful programme delivery.

Key qualifications and competencies:

• Proven experience in advanced project scheduling and schedule control within complex engineering, industrial, or aerospace programmes.
• Strong expertise in critical path, sub-critical path, float analysis, schedule quality assessment, and milestone trend analysis.
• Demonstrated experience in schedule risk analysis, risk-adjusted schedules, simulations, and what-if scenario assessments.
• Advanced proficiency with Microsoft Project Professional and at least one enterprise planning tool such as Oracle Primavera.
• Ability to assess industrial schedules, identify deviations, and develop practical recovery, mitigation, or optimisation strategies.
• Strong reporting, presentation, stakeholder management, and training capabilities.
• Fluent written and spoken English. French would be considered an asset.

Desirable experience:

• Previous experience working with the European Space Agency (ESA), including ESTEC or ECSAT environments.
• Knowledge of planning and reporting tools such as Deltek Acumen, Office Timeline, Visio, Power BI, and schedule risk analysis solutions.
• Experience supporting major space programme reviews, including IPREV, Preliminary Design Reviews (PDR), and Critical Design Reviews (CDR).
• Familiarity with ECSS standards, including ECSS-M-ST-10, ECSS-M-ST-60, and ECSS-M-ST-80.
• Experience integrating project schedules with cost, resources, configuration management, and programme risk management activities.
• Exposure to tool development, process automation, digital transformation initiatives, or AI-driven applications supporting planning and risk management.

This position is ideal for a proactive and solution-oriented planning professional who thrives in complex programme environments and is passionate about delivering high-quality schedule and risk management support for major international space projects.