Director, IRIS2 Security

Director, Iris2 Security

Role Description Summary

This role is part of the Technical Leading group inside the SES European Programmes organisation, whose main objective is to design, deliver and operate the Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite (IRIS2), and other Space Programmes of the European Commission (EC) and ESA.

As the European Union’s society and economy are undergoing a digital transformation, which comes with increased demand for ubiquitous connectivity as well as raised cyberthreats, both for private and for governmental users, EC has launched a programme to build a dual-use, sovereign, secure, Non-Geo-Stationary Orbit (NGSO) satellite-based, telecommunication ecosystem, complemented and integrated with key non-communication satellite services. In this scope, SES, in the leading role of the SpaceRISE consortium, entered in a Concession agreement with the EC to build and operate the IRIS2 system.

The incumbent will be accountable for leading the Security workstream in SES and on behalf of SpaceRISE consortium, and ensure the consistency, sustainability, efficiency, effectiveness, and compliance with the Customer’s requirements and SES’ objectives, of the overall Security works in coordination with the Partners’ and Sub-contractors’ technical arms.

As a member of an agile project organization, you will be expected to bring a flexible way of working and an adaptive mindset to a dynamic development environment.    

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES / KEY RESULT AREAS

• Provide executive leadership and full accountability for assigned programs and sub-projects, ensuring clear prioritization, optimal resource alignment, and effective stakeholder engagement. Drive delivery of all security initiatives on time, within scope, and meeting the highest standards of quality and risk mitigation
• Oversee the comprehensive evaluation of all functional and contractual documentation from asecurity and information protection perspective. Define and cascade actionable security requirements, ensuring full compliance with internal policies and external regulations.
• Lead the strategic design and decision-making processes for security architecture and engineering. Guide the selection and implementation of security technologies, secure network frameworks, and system architectures, balancing cost-efficiency, time-to-market, and accreditation objectives.
• Own the end-to-end lifecycle management of critical security plans and documentation—including architecture, risk mitigation, operations, maintenance, accreditation, and service continuity—ensuring alignment with SES’s strategic goals and contractual commitments.
• Embrace the responsibility or accountability, as the case may be, for the Security Architecture design, Security Management Plans, Security Risk Analysis/Mitigation plans, SecOps plans, Maintenance and ILS plans, Obsolescence plans, Components Development and Procurement Plans, Security Accreditation Strategy, Security Architecture Deployment plans, Service Continuity plans, and contribute to the procurement and workload cost allocation; prepare for the execution of the mentioned plans in the assigned role. Guide, audit and evaluate their consistency with SES’s objectives throughout the Concession Contract
• Foster collaboration with System and Service Engineering to break down silos and ensure effective cascading of security requirements into system and service specifications.
• Negotiate and agree with the Security Accreditation Authority the accreditation baseline for the IRIS2 Programme.
• Collect, review and take ownership of Accreditation documentation co-produced with partners and subcontractors, and present them to EC and to the Security Accreditation Authority
• Along institutional contract milestone plans (ESA, EC), own, lead or contribute as needed to the preparation and closure of reviews, including negotiation of contract amendments with Customers as well as with (Sub-) Contractors. Compose the required documentation in English language, inside and outside the frame of the RFP, by gathering contributions, by harmonising them, and by compiling the assigned parts
• Advise and support SES’s EU Programmes on strategic choices, technical synergies and trade-offs. Anticipate hurdles and suggest solutions.
• Establish close working relationships with the subject matter experts in SES’s EU Programmes Team and in SES’s support functions. Shape with them the winning technologies. Exploit synergies between the IRIS2 Programme (or the project the incumbent is assigned to) and the SES technical and operational strategy.
• Maintain a cooperative and synergic relationship with the technical peers assigned by SES’ partners and sub-contractors to the Programme, contribute to defining the work guidelines, gather the contributions and verify the consistency of the overall technical solution, by identifying possible gaps or feasibility issues.
• Compose the required documentation in English language, inside and outside the frame of the RFP, by gathering contributions, by harmonising them, and by compiling the assigned parts.

Competencies

• Strong and proven leadership and team management skills
• Excellent analytical skills, solid knowledge and sound judgement to advise on complex decisions with significant contribution to business success
• Problem-identifying and problem-solving skills, practical thinker and solution oriented
• Ability to translate customer / business requirements into technical design specifications by using a customer service-centric approach
• Excellence in cooperation across multiple functions of the organisation and across organisations
• Mastering negotiation skills, declined in a long-term programme and partnership
• Dependable and autonomous, able to work with reduced supervision as well as in a collaborative environment
• Can do attitude, confidence to work outside own comfort zone, able to balance risks and opportunities and ability to adapt to change
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Proactive and assertive worker

Qualifications & Experience

• University level degree in Engineering, Telecommunications or adjacent areas as a minimum
• More than 10 years of experience in Satellite Communications System Architectures, Solution Design or Deployment and Security Engineering
• Proven experience in working with EU, ESA or national governmental institutions, and more specifically wrt security engineering of security risk management, security threats & incidents, security vulnerabilities, malware analysis
• Security engineering experience acquired in programmes covering at the maximum possible extent the following infrastructure systems and activities: satellite control or data planes, IT & Datacentres, 5G systems, OSS/BSS, User Terminals, terrestrial fixed and mobile networks
• Ideally, experienced in complex programme management and cross-functional / cross-organisational cooperation
• Proficiency in preparation of proposals and in technical writing, with sound understanding of the implications
• Fluency in written and spoken English; other European languages are considered an asset

Other Key Requirements / Comments

• The candidate must have a valid “SECRET” security clearance, in accordance with the “loi modifiée du 15 juin 2004 relative à la classification des pièces et aux habilitations de sécurité”, as well as EU/ESA/NATO equivalents
• Willing to work at least 60% onsite from office
• Travel as required for project realization purposes 
• Understanding of space-based security architectures
• Experience on NGSOs
• Ready to work at least 60% of the time in the office

SES and its Affiliated Companies are committed to providing fair and equal employment opportunities to all. We are an Equal Opportunity employer and will consider all qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, pregnancy, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, genetic information, protected veteran status, disability, or any other basis protected by local, state, or federal law.

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