Section Head Electronic Engineering

Your main responsibility is helping your people succeed. You will coach and develop team members, support their ambitions and create a positive, collaborative working environment. You will provide direction, make decisions and help resolve difficult situations.

You will also:

• Match engineers' skills and availability to project needs, working closely with project managers.
• Balance workloads, identify capability gaps and recruit new colleagues when needed.
• Contribute to the strategy and development of the Engineering Group as part of its Management Team (EG-MT).
• Lead a cross-sectional initiative to strengthen and grow Systems Engineering capabilities across SRON.

In addition to leading your section, ultimately approximately 50% of your time will involve active project work. 

This vacancy is part of the Electronic Engineering Section within the Engineering Group (EG). Working in an EG at a space institute is a unique and rewarding experience. In many engineering industries, commercial pressures mean that at some point a design is good enough, it goes out the door, and improvements can come later. Space engineering is different. When it goes into space, it simply has to work.

That creates a special environment for engineers and other technical staff. We face nearly impossible puzzles and have the opportunity to really solve them: to design, build, test, learn and improve until we get it right. This challenge brings enormous job satisfaction and motivates our passionate engineering team.

You will lead 19 engineers across our Leiden and Groningen locations. Your team develops complex electronic systems for scientific instruments.

At SRON, we develop advanced scientific instruments that help researchers explore the universe and understand our planet. Our engineers work with scientists and international partners to solve complex technical challenges and develop technology for future space missions.

As Head of Electronic Engineering, you will help our people and engineering capabilities grow while contributing directly to exciting technical projects. Ultimately approximately 50% of your time will involve active project work. Depending on your interests and expertise, you could contribute through detailed engineering, technical leadership or work-package management.

You bring a technical background in Electronic Engineering, Electrical Engineering or a related field, ideally at Master's level, and substantial relevant engineering experience.

You also bring:

• Experience leading or coordinating people, projects or technical teams.
• An approachable leadership style, with an interest in listening, coaching and developing others.
• The ability to make decisions, provide direction and address challenging situations constructively.
• An understanding of how to match technical skills and resources to project needs.
• Good communication skills and a collaborative approach.
• Good command of English. Knowledge of Dutch is an advantage, but not required.

Experience with space hardware, multidisciplinary engineering projects or Systems Engineering would be an advantage.

We value different backgrounds and career paths. If this role interests you but you do not meet every requirement, we encourage you to apply.

The position we offer is a fulltime position. You will be employed by NWO-I (Foundation for Dutch Scientific Research Institutes).The appointment is in the position of Section Head Electronic Engineering, on the basis of a temporary contract with NWO-I for at least one year, with the prospect of permanent employment. The salary will be in accordance with NWO salary scale 12 with a maximum of € 7.641,– gross per month on a full-time basis depending on your level of education and experience.

NWO-I has good secondary employment conditions such as: 

• An end-of-year bonus of 8,33% of the gross yearly salary.
• A holiday allowance of 8% of the gross yearly salary.
• 42 days of vacation leave per year on a full-time basis.
• Compensation for commuting expenses.
• An excellent pension scheme.
• Options for (additional) personal development.
• Excellent facilities for parental leave.
• Ample training opportunities.
• Possibility of flexible working hours.