The South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) is recruiting a Senior Telescope Maintenance Engineer to its Cape Town facility, Western Cape, on a permanent contract. The successful candidate will be part of the engineering operations team and will be responsible for leading a team of engineers/technicians to develop solutions to fulfil requirements at the subsystem and system levels.
Key Responsibilities
- Develop and manage the implementation of the asset care and asset lifecycle management strategy to ensure the telescope and infrastructure availability;
- Responsible for all off-site/D-level maintenance of telescope and infrastructure components and subsystems;
- Provide engineering support to the SKA-MID telescope construction project;
- Develop and monitor the implementation of the telescope and infrastructure long-term maintenance plans;
- Develop, implement and optimise engineering policies, procedures and processes;
- Introduction of world-class maintenance standards to ensure low-cost asset availability and reliability;
- Develop and implement asset condition monitoring and condition-assessments systems and projects to ensure long-term reliability;
- Drive continuous improvement programmes;
- Ensure operational readiness for new assets in terms of maintainability, spare availability, skilled maintenance and operational personnel and technical support and facilities;
- Benchmark, source, implement and monitor systems and tools to ensure effective asset lifecycle management and keeping abreast of the latest market developments, training and ensuring correct deployment;
- Ensure compliance with all legal, environmental, quality, occupational health and safety and risk management legislation, standards and best practices;
- Responsible for the development and management of engineering projects, contracts and service-level agreements;
- Line and performance management of engineering staff;
- Manage the departmental budget within prescribed parameters and
- Develop technical skills base by mentoring and training graduate engineers.
Key Requirements
Qualification
- Bachelor of Technology (B-Tech) degree with a minimum of eight years of experience in electronics, electrical, mechanical engineering, or a closely related and equivalent field;
- Bachelor of Science (BSc) or Bachelor of Engineering (B.Eng) degree with at least 7 years of experience in electronics, electrical, mechanical engineering, or a closely related and equivalent field; and
- Master’s degree with a minimum of six years of experience in electronics, electrical, mechanical engineering, or a closely related and equivalent field;
Knowledge
- Knowledge of leading a team of engineers and technicians that will be able to deliver on projects assigned to the engineering division and engage strategically and technically with stakeholders;
- Knowledge of setting, communicating and implementing long-term strategies for the engineering division to ensure a transformed and internationally recognised Radio Astronomy Instrumentation capability
- Managing multi-disciplinary projects;
- Knowledge of monitoring and reporting on financial, schedule and technical status of projects;
- Knowledge of managing and budgeting process for the engineering division and monitoring and control of expenditure against allocated budgets; and
- Knowledge of setting quality and professional standards and ensuring quality assurance is maintained in their programmes.
Experience
- Broad domain understanding of technologies and methodologies relevant to Radio Astronomy (Antennas/Receivers, Cryogenic cooling systems, control systems, mechanical systems, electrical systems); and
- Extensive domain knowledge of at least one of the fundamental technologies to Radio Astronomy (Mechanical Structures, Digital Electronics, Digital Signal Processing, Radio Frequency Electronics, High-Performance Computing, and Electrical Power Systems).
Additional Notes
- Working on R and D or science-related projects;
- Proven history of delivering on large projects;
- Working in a multi-national project environment;
- Understanding systems engineering and product development processes;
- Configuration Management and Maintenance of Product Configuration;
- Production processes relevant to their functional area;
- Development and implementation of operational plans;
- Project management;
- Writing technical proposals/documents;
- Developing and implementing revised or new work methods, designs, policies and processes; and
- Participate and oversee PDR/CDRs on programmes/projects in the engineering division.
How to Apply
Applicants should submit a comprehensive CV here by 10 December 2023. Furthermore, applicants should include a letter of motivation indicating their suitability for the position in their applications. In addition, the applicants must provide at least three referees’ names and contact details.
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