Chief Operating Officer - (F/M)

Created in 2009, ESSP is a young and dynamic company, a pan-European service provider, certified by EASA (the European Union Aviation Safety Agency) to deliver safety-critical services. Our mission is to operate and provide Communication, Navigation and Surveillance (CNS) services, among which the main one is the EGNOS service (the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service), on behalf of the EUSPA (the European Space Agency).

The Chief Operating Officer (COO) will be in charge of ensuring effective coordination and alignment across the operational units : System Operations, Service Provision, Compliance Management, and Service Managers, providing structure and coherence in day-to-day operations . The candidate must have at least 10 years’ experience in team management and transversal coordination in the aeronautical and aerospace domain or COO experience in an Operations and Service delivery company.

Responsibilities

• Reinforcing transversal coordination between the three operational units, ensuring consistent delivery and alignment across the different operational Units of the company
• Overseeing service delivery, system operations, and operational compliance
• Managing operational risks, incidents, and escalations
• Supervising complex multi‑unit projects, optimising the costs, and looking for efficiency and synergies
• Supporting implementation of standards and audits
• Driving operational efficiency and continuous improvement
• Anticipating and preparing the future from a technical standpoint
• Reporting and working closely with the Chief Executive Officer for all the technical, critical, and strategic operational issues
• Working closely with the 3 operational Directors to help harmonise the means needed for the Unit management and support the resources management
• Working closely with the Chief Financial Officer and the Strategy and Business Development Unit to ensure that operational execution supports company objectives and financial performance
• Supporting System Operations Unit and Service Provision Unit on technical improvement methods
• Directly supervising Service Managers, ensuring service delivery, quality, and compliance with standards, and monitoring performance across all service lines
• Ensuring the Services Managers' coordination with Key Account Managers and Strategy and Business Development to ensure that operational priorities remain aligned with customer and market needs
• With the Compliance Management Unit, ensuring adherence to certifications and standards, overseeing audits, and supporting closure of findings
• Supporting Compliance Management Unit on corporate improvements linked to the operating system (Security, Quality Management, Project & Service control, Risks, and Business Continuity systems)
• Identifying and addressing operational risks, serving as the main escalation point between units and services to anticipate issues and de‑risk execution

Profile

Generic Skills

• Ability to effectively manage and organize multidisciplinary teams
• Ability to manage a plurality of stakeholders
• Leadership and autonomy
• Team and Corporate spirit
• Ability to share, listen, communicate, reconcile, and report
• Pragmatism, rigor, and organization
• Very good priority management
• Ability to anticipate and to be proactive
• Ability to think out of the box and to be creative (not a conservative approach)
• Customer Service Oriented
• Ability to facilitate internal collaboration
• Experience with software suites Microsoft (MSOffice, MSProject, etc.)
• Very good level of English (B2-C1) – CEFR

Specific Skills

• Knowledge of the ESSP services (scope and types)
• Knowledge of the stakeholder landscape
• Basic knowledge of the satellite systems architecture
• Ability to assume responsibilities and make decisions in a complex context involving a certain level of risk‑taking
• Operational decision‑making sometimes in urgent conditions
• Accompany business transformations, show initiative
• Financial management (optimization of the organization and associated costs)

Job Requirements

• Engineering degree or equivalent
• Available for regular travels mainly in Europe
• Subject to constraints of minimum presence during normal vacation periods (July/August, Christmas, February, Easter)
• Financial and contractual experience

Benefits

• Variable: bonuses based on objectives
• Teleworking
• Tickets Restaurant (card)
• Family Health Insurance
• Sustainable Mobility Package: Home/Office travels reimbursement if car sharing or bicycling
• Reimbursement of part of the public transport subscription

Location

Toulouse (France) / Madrid (Spain)

Contract Type

Full time - Permanent Contract

ESSP is committed to cultural diversity, gender equality and the employment of disabled workers.