Systems Engineer for the Pollux Spectropolarimeter of the HWO Space Mission at LIRA (M/F)

Job Description

Missions

The position offered under this permanent contract (CDI) concerns the maturation phase and Phase A of Pollux. The contract is initially for 6.5 years. The mission will be considered completed after delivery of the end-of-Phase A report and presentation of the baseline design to NASA (and to ESA if it funds Pollux), currently scheduled for 2031.
The systems engineer will be part of the Pollux project team (project office, PO), together with the two Principal Investigators (Coralie Neiner at LIRA and Jean-Claude Bouret at LAM), the project manager (David Le Mignant at LAM), and the instrument scientist (Luca Fossati in Austria).

Activity

- Analyze the scientific requirements and translate them into technical specifications
- Define, capture, and manage system requirements in collaboration with the design and engineering teams
- Draft the technical specifications document and the Pollux performance matrix
- Define performance specifications for each Pollux subsystem
- Ensure the instrument's performance
- Define and monitor interfaces between subsystems
- Contribute to the instrument design, oversee its implementation, and ensure its operational reliability
- Manage, track, and document requirements and performance
- Monitor the development of subsystems with all partners
- Ensure subsystem verification to guarantee compliance with specifications
- Contribute to planning the instrument's development
- Validate the instrument design at its various stages
- Propose design improvements and optimizations
- Participate in resolving issues encountered by the Pollux technical team
- Validate, in coordination with the PIs, the project manager, and the relevant administrative units, the structure of international consortia
- Establish a technology watch (technology monitoring)
- Define the R&D development plan
- Participate in consortium meetings, with the HWO project office, and with space agencies
- Lead and coordinate the systems engineering team, organize and chair its meetings
- Organize specific meetings with the various Pollux technical teams (optics, mechanics, thermal, etc.)
- Define and manage mass, power, and volume budgets for Pollux
- Contribute to the development of test plans and test procedures
- Present, disseminate, and promote achievements

Your Profil

Skills

KNOWLEDGE:
- Engineering sciences and techniques (optics, mechanics, thermal engineering, electronics, control systems)
- Basic use of domain-specific tools and software
- Calculation methods
- Instrumentation and measurement (test benches, etc.)
- Professional environment and networks (ESA, NASA, CNES, etc.)
- Written and oral presentation techniques
- French language: B2 (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages)
- English language: B2 (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages)

OPERATIONAL SKILLS:
- Anticipate functional and technical developments
- Lead a technical team
- Supervise / coordinate a team
- Chair meetings
- Conduct negotiations
- Apply quality assurance procedures
- Apply health and safety regulations
- Apply public procurement regulations
- Conduct technology monitoring

PRACTICAL SKILLS AND PERSONAL QUALITIES:
- Responsiveness, adaptability, versatility
- Interpersonal skills
- Ability to work in a team
- Negotiation and compromise skills
- Organizational skills and autonomy
- Strong sense of organization
- Critical thinking

Your Work Environment

Affiliation:
LIRA (Laboratory for Instrumentation and Research in Astrophysics; UMR 8254, Paris Observatory, CNRS, Sorbonne University, Université Paris Cité, CY Paris), based at the Paris Observatory on the Meudon site (92).

LIRA is one of the three scientific departments of the Paris Observatory–PSL, a major institution bringing together a quarter of France's national workforce in astronomy and astrophysics. With nearly 300 members, it is one of the largest research laboratories in France in this field. In addition to its permanent researchers and engineers, LIRA includes around 30 postdoctoral fellows and 60 PhD students.

LIRA's main scientific themes include the study of “Sun–planet” and “star–exoplanet” systems, terrestrial and (exo)planetary atmospheres, galaxies resolved into stars, and stellar populations. Its primary methodologies are the development of space- and ground-based instrumentation, laboratory experimentation, as well as observation and data analysis.

LIRA was recently formed through the merger of teams from LESIA, LERMA, and GEPI at the Paris Observatory. Its mission is to design and build scientific instrumentation for space and ground-based applications, and to exploit the resulting observations.

Its activities are organized into five scientific divisions (Stars and Galaxies; High Angular Resolution in Astrophysics; Heliosphere and Astrophysical Plasmas; Planetology; and Exoplanetary Systems), as well as an engineering division and an administrative division.

The systems engineer will be integrated into LIRA's engineering division, which brings together 70 engineers and technicians (optical, mechanical, thermal, electronics specialists, etc.), working in close collaboration with the engineers and scientists of the Pollux space spectropolarimetry project team for HWO.
The systems engineer will report hierarchically to LIRA's Technical Director.

LIRA is Principal Investigator (PI) for several space missions and space spectropolarimetry instruments currently in preparation. In particular, LIRA is PI of the UV-Visible-nIR (100–1888 nm, R=60,000–100,000) Pollux spectropolarimeter for NASA's flagship mission HWO (Habitable Worlds Observatory, with a 6- to 8-meter diameter telescope). Pollux is co-led by LIRA and LAM in Marseille. Pollux is currently in its maturation phase (NASA GOMaP), with funding submission to ESA in 2027, submission for adoption of the instrument onto HWO to NASA in 2029, and a Phase A study from 2029 to 2031. Phases B, C, and D would then lead to an HWO launch around 2042.
LIRA leads this spectropolarimetry instrument because its teams are the only ones in the world to have developed UV polarimeters suitable for high-resolution UV spectropolarimetry across broad wavelength ranges.

Compensation and benefits

Compensation

Depending on experience, between €3,237 and €4,960 gross per month.

Annual leave and RTT

44 jours

Remote Working practice and compensation

Pratique et indemnisation du TT

Transport

Prise en charge à 75% du coût et forfait mobilité durable jusqu’à 300€

About the offer

About the CNRS

The CNRS is a major player in fundamental research on a global scale. The CNRS is the only French organization active in all scientific fields. Its unique position as a multi-specialist allows it to bring together different disciplines to address the most important challenges of the contemporary world, in connection with the actors of change.

CNRS

The research professions