Practical astronomer for space domain sensor development (Espoo, Finland)

Why this role exists

Space underpins everyday services from navigation and communications to weather forecasting and national security. But Earth orbit is becoming increasingly congested. Debris drives avoidable satellite risk, forces costly maneuvers, and threatens long-term usability of key orbits.

There are over 1 million potentially hazardous debris objects larger than 1 cm, and tens of millions larger than 1 mm, yet only a fraction are routinely tracked. You can’t avoid what you can’t see.

About Aavuus

Aavuus is building a global network of ground-based sensors to detect and track orbital objects with high precision, improving space situational awareness (SSA) and enabling better collision avoidance for space operators worldwide.

We’re a small, highly technical team (currently 5–10 people). We value ownership, practical problem-solving, and respectful collaboration. You’ll have real autonomy and you’ll be able to ship real hardware.

What you’ll do

As our astronomer you will work hands-on with our space geodesy, photonics, automation, and software engineers to design, build, and operate our telescope-based sensing system. You will lead field testing and operations development, contribute to analysis tools and algorithms, and ensure our observation performance accounts for real-world atmospheric effects. You will also support planning of our international station network together with the CSO.

Responsibilities include:

• Participate in the design and build of the telescope system together with space geodesy, photonics, automation, and software engineering teams

• Lead field testing and measurement campaigns, including planning, execution, and reporting

• Design and continuously improve operations protocols

• Contribute to analysis algorithms and tools for observational data processing and performance monitoring

• Model and mitigate atmospheric effects impacting observations

• Support international station network planning with the CSO

• Document procedures, results, and lessons learned to help scale from prototype to repeatable deployments

Depending on experience, you may also take on:

• Technical leadership and mentoring

• Project planning and supplier coordination

• Supporting grants and customer/partner technical discussions

What we are looking for:

Must-have

• MSc or PhD in astronomy or a closely related field

• Proven experience with telescope observations

• Proven experience in data analysis for observational datasets

• Proven international experience

• Fluent written and spoken English

• EU nationality or existing work permission in Finland

• Clean security history

Nice-to-have

• Additional language skills

• Programming skills (e.g., Python/C/C++/MATLAB) for pipelines, tooling, and automation

• Strong technical skills with observatory systems

• Experience with atmospheric characterization tools/models and site testing

• Leadership/management skills

• Driving license

Location, travel, and hours

• Location: Espoo, Finland

• Working hours: flexible hours, but meaningful on-site presence is expected for lab work.

• Travel: occasional travel for field tests and partner/supplier work

• Schedule: field tests may require limited night shifts

Compensation

• Salary: €3,000–€5,000 / month (depending on experience)

• Equity: optional equity program

• Start date: negotiable; we’ll move quickly for the right candidate

Practicalities

• APPLICATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED. HOWEVER, YOU CAN STILL SEND YOUR RESUME WHILE WE ARE INTERVIEWING CANDIDATES.

• We would like you to add at least 2 referee contacts

• We review applications on a rolling basis and will fill the role as soon as we find the right candidate.

• The process involves at minimum two interviews:

  • With the first interview we assess your cultural fit into our team (online)

  • With the second interview we assess your technical capabilities (on-site)

• If you have any questions relating to the role or the process, you can send an email to info (a) aavuus .com