Job description
At VITO, we develop innovative Earth Observation solutions that help tackle societal challenges such as climate change, sustainable land management and environmental monitoring. By combining satellite observations, advanced image processing and data science, we transform large volumes of EO data into reliable information products that support decision making for governments, industry and international organisations.
As part of our Earth Observation team, you will contribute to the development of next-generation satellite data processing solutions. You will work on projects ranging from mission preparation and payload specifications definition to the implementation of operational processing chains for EO missions ranging from optical over TIR to SAR. Your work will combine scientific expertise with software development, helping to bridge the gap between innovative processing algorithms and operational EO services.
You will collaborate closely with researchers, software engineers, system engineers, business developers and external partners in an interdisciplinary environment where innovation and knowledge sharing are key.
More specifically, you will:
- Define Earth Observation products together with customers, business developers and system engineers, ensuring they address application needs and mission objectives.
- Translate user requirements into technical specifications for image processing algorithms and operational data products.
- Contribute to the design and assessment of future satellite missions by evaluating payload concepts from a downstream data processing perspective.
- Develop and maintain image processing processors/workflows that transform raw satellite observations into calibrated, geometrically corrected and analysis-ready products.
- Implement and improve existing algorithms for geometric and radiometric processing, atmospheric correction, cloud masking and the generation of higher-level information products.
- Build scalable and automated processing workflows that can efficiently handle large volumes of satellite data across multiple missions and sensor types.
- Support technical proposal preparation, feasibility studies and project execution by providing expertise on EO data processing solutions.
- Continuously evaluate and introduce new processing methods and technologies to improve product quality, operational performance and processing efficiency.
- Contribute to calibration, validation and quality assurance activities to ensure the accuracy and reliability of Earth Observation products.