Senior Operations Specialist (Flight Engineer)

ROLE HIGHLIGHTS - Role: Senior Operations Specialist (Flight Engineer) - Department: HAPS - Location: Valencia, Spain - Working type: On site, with limited remote working - Employment is subject to applicable security screening (incl. SUPO, where required) THE MISSION OF THE SENIOR OPERATIONS SPECIALIST (FLIGHT ENGINEER) As Senior Operations Specialist (Flight Engineer) on the HAPS (High Altitude Platform Station) program, you will help keep ICEYE's stratospheric, solar-powered electric aircraft safe, healthy and productive throughout its flights. In flight, you will be the crew's reference for the aircraft's technical condition: monitoring its systems, managing its energy and thermal balance, and turning what the aircraft tells you into clear, timely recommendations for the Mission Planner and the Autopilot Operator. The role is deliberately broad. Beyond flight engineering, you will contribute across the Operations team: preparing and executing flight test campaigns, supporting ground control station operations, assessing flight results and feeding them back into the aircraft's development, and helping build the procedures and tools of an operations capability that will scale as the program grows. WHO ARE WE? ICEYE delivers space-based intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities to governments and allied nations. This includes sovereign and turnkey ISR missions leveraging ICEYE's world-leading synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite technology, as well as access to data from the world's largest SAR satellite constellation. These capabilities enable partners to detect and respond to critical changes anywhere on Earth with unprecedented speed and accuracy, day or night and in any weather, supported by ultra high-resolution imagery and high-frequency revisits. As a trusted partner for defense, intelligence, security, and maritime domain awareness, ICEYE's near real-time data creates a tactical advantage for mission-critical operations. ICEYE operates internationally with offices in Finland, Poland, Spain, Japan, the UAE, Greece, Germany, and the US. The company has more than 900 employees, inspired by the shared vision of improving life on Earth by becoming the global source of truth in Earth Observation. KEY RESPONSIBILITIES FLIGHT OPERATIONS - Monitor the health and status of the aircraft and its on-board systems in flight, detect developing anomalies or degradation early, and assess their impact on the mission. - Manage the aircraft energy balance: battery state of charge, solar power availability and the power budget, ensuring enough stored energy to safely operate through the night. - Monitor and manage the aircraft thermal condition to keep its systems within operating limits. - Advise the Mission Planner and Autopilot Operator on aircraft health, available power and thermal status, and coordinate technical decisions with them throughout the flight. WIDER OPERATIONS SUPPORT - Contribute to the planning, preparation and execution of flight test campaigns, including site preparation, pre-flight checks, launch and recovery activities. - Take on other crew positions or ground control station duties as operational needs require, building versatility across the Operations team. - Analyse flight data after each flight, report results and translate findings into improvements for the aircraft, its systems and operating procedures. - Develop and maintain operational procedures, checklists, emergency procedures and operations documentation. - Develop and improve monitoring, analysis and planning tools used by the flight crew, such as telemetry dashboards and energy or thermal estimation tools. - Support aircraft integration, ground testing and simulation activities, and contribute to the training and qualification of crew members. - Support safety and risk assessments for operations and, when needed, coordination with aviation authorities and external p