Launch your career with ESA: internships now open!

The 2024 internship opportunities at ESA are currently online! Applications are open until the end of November and positions are available in engineering, science, IT, natural/social sciences, economics and business and administration services.

Could this be your chance to kick-off your career in the space sector? Learn more with Andrew Kane, ESA Entry-Level Programmes Coordinator, who will guide you through the opportunities, recruitment process and much more!

Can you tell us about your role as Entry-Level Programmes Coordinator?

My role is to oversee all of the programmes at ESA for early career professionals: as well as the Internships, I am responsible for the Young Graduate Trainee Programme, Research Fellowship Programme, Junior Professional Programme and the various National Trainee Programmes. This involves coordinating with colleagues on the recruitment and onboarding of early career professionals, as well as liaising with the new recruits once they are at the agency.

What can a student expect from an internship at ESA?

Our internships offer the chance for many students to get their first exposure to the space industry and ESA, with many of our technical positions affording them hands-on experience at some of the best facilities in the world. Many of our interns also use the opportunity at ESA to inject some unique research and insights into their university theses. It is also important to mention the social and networking side of an ESA internship: students will get the chance to work alongside hundreds of other early career professionals, learn from each other, make long-lasting friendships and connections and, of course, have fun!

With over 100 opportunities open, what are the main areas of study that you are searching for?

This year, we have an extremely broad array of opportunities for students. Most of our positions are in various engineering domains, but it is important to point out that we are also looking for those with an interest in science, IT, economics and business support services. ESA aims to recruit early career professionals with a variety of talents, skills and academic backgrounds.

What activities can interns join while at ESA?

We have an extremely vibrant, dynamic and committed community of early career professionals called Young ESA! This group builds a network of young professionals across all ESA sites and advocates upon their behalf within the agency. Most importantly, they work together to foster a welcoming environment for all young professionals at ESA, organising countless professional and social activities. One of the most interesting projects of Young ESA is YPSat , which is a project entirely run by young professionals at ESA to develop an experimental payload that will fly aboard the inaugural Ariane 6 flight. If you are selected as an intern, be sure to check out YPSat once you arrive at ESA (and keep your eyes open for YPSat-2)!

What kind of career paths do ESA interns tend to follow after their placements?

Thanks to the hands-on learning experiences offered, an internship at ESA is a fantastic addition to the CV of any student looking to build a career in the European space sector. Many of our interns leverage their internship experience to find an entry-level position in European industry – ranging from large players to disruptive NewSpace entrants. Equally, many of our interns are also well-placed to apply for our Young Graduate Trainee Programme, upon the completion of a successful internship.

What tips would you give to those reading this who are planning on applying for the internship programme?

My number one tip is to take your time and read every single relevant position that we have available! Given that students can only apply for a maximum of two different positions, the best way that you can maximise your chances of a successful application is to make sure that you find the two positions that best align with your skills and interests. All of our job titles try to best encapsulate the work you would be doing as an intern, but I recommend reading each of them in detail, one by one, as you might be positively surprised to find that you meet the eligibility requirements for many of our vacancies. Take your time and find the two positions that are the best matches for you – just try not to wait until the very last day to submit your application!

You will notice in the vacancy description that more than one topic per opportunity is listed. You are not expected to cover all the topics listed; instead, you should choose the one that interests you most. Of course, if you are interested in more than one topic, you are free to select more.

Curious to know more?

We asked former ESA interns who are now YGTs to tell us about their internship experience, working environment and integration at ESA.

What inspired you to apply to the Internship Programme?

Giulia Cambone: My internship supervisor had an online lesson about Cost Engineering at my university when I was a student. She presented her subject with such passion that she transmitted that enthusiasm to me. In addition, ESA outreach to students on social platforms and interviews with former interns pushed me to apply.

Sebastien Origer: The internship opportunity with the ESA Advanced Concepts Team (ACT) aligned perfectly with the technical competencies I aimed to develop during my MSc degree. The multidisciplinary nature of the ACT appealed to me, especially as I was navigating through various research possibilities for my thesis.

Finally, given the brief internship duration of three months, a well-defined project was crucial to me. This enabled me to set clear goals and make the most out of my time.

Blandine Gorce: I had been wanting to work at ESA for a very long time and the internship on life support systems was a good blend of my engineering background and my interest in space exploration missions. I was also attracted by the international environment that ESA offers and the opportunity to work abroad. As I studied aerospace, applying for an internship at ESA seemed like a great way to complete my studies. I saw it as a chance to get a deeper understanding of the mechanics of the hub of the European space industry.

Aurora Tuozzi: I applied to the ESA Internship Programme during my Master’s degree in Applied Ethics at Utrecht University. I already knew about ESA, but I didn’t think there would be any opportunities for me as I was not a STEM student and didn’t have any prior experience in the space sector. However, through my network I was referred to ESA’s vacancy for an intern in Diversity and Inclusiveness (D&I). This position was perfect: it provided the type of working experience I was looking for in a multicultural environment where I could meet and work with people with different backgrounds and expertise. I was also attracted by the prestige of ESA as an organisation and by the conditions of the internship compared to many of the other vacancies I had applied to, many of which were unpaid. It was really great to learn that so many different profiles could be fit for applying at ESA!

Can you tell us more about your activities at ESA?

Giulia Cambone: My activities as an intern in Cost Engineering are very broad. I got assigned a project to develop a cost model and it was a thrilling and fulfilling challenge. Also, I co-authored a paper together with my supervisor and a former YGT in the Section and presented it at an IAA conference in Berlin.

Sebastien Origer: As an intern, I worked on training neural models to represent both the optimal policy (i.e., the optimal thrust direction) and the value function (i.e., the time of flight) for a time optimal, constant acceleration low-thrust rendezvous by using a data augmentation technique called "backward generation of optimal examples". This led to my first peer-reviewed paper and I also wrote my Master’s thesis in collaboration with the ACT on “Guidance & Control Networks for Time-Optimal Quadcopter Flight”.

Today I am a Young Graduate Trainee working on Artificial Intelligence and Inverse Problems with the ACT. My work has the potential to tackle previously unresolved problems in physics, aid the design of spacecraft and extract more information from the valuable measurements made in space.

Blandine Gorce: As an intern, I worked on lessons learned from life support systems payload operation, which allowed me to meet many different people working on payload development, from design up to integration in the ISS, and understand the different specifics of each job. I also participated in several project reviews and a Concurrent Design Facility (CDF) study, which is a preliminary study for future missions. I learned about a wide range of topics as my team was composed of people from very different backgrounds.

Aurora Tuozzi: A big part of my internship was research and analysis (especially benchmarking) and writing reports on the results of my research or the D&I activities I was involved in. Organising workshops was another part of my work. For example, I helped organise and deliver a workshop to gain insight into what D&I topics the ESA staff members were the most invested in, especially the young community, and I wrote the report showcasing the results. I also got involved with initiatives outside of my team, for example I actively participated in the Young ESA working group on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. I also volunteered in the ESA Earth Days, a three-day initiative to spread awareness about sustainability within the agency. These three months at ESA were full and intense, but extremely rewarding!

How would you define the work environment at ESA for a student?

Giulia Cambone: I believe that the ESA environment stimulates curiosity and growth: it is welcoming to students, lets them express themselves and allows them to learn from more expert colleagues.

Sebastien Origer: While I can only speak for the ACT as all my work happened inside that team, I can confidently say that the environment has been very beneficial for me. I received support whenever I needed it while being encouraged to tackle difficult problems by myself. The ACT team was fun, polite, inclusive, fair and, above all, made me feel part of the team from day one. I am beyond grateful for having had the opportunity to work in the ACT.

Blandine Gorce: ?At ESA, the work environment is a great source of knowledge for a student. I think completing an internship at ESA is a great opportunity to gather contacts in the space sector and get a first glance at how ESA works. Numerous talks and conferences are organised on site, which fosters many interesting discussions with experts. Additionally, ESA has great lab facilities, so there are a lot of possibilities to follow interesting projects and managers tend to encourage new projects and ideas. The social life at ESA’s centre in the Netherlands in particular is amazing. The site is equipped with a wide range of sport and outdoor facilities for after-work activities and frequent social gatherings make it easy to meet colleagues and contribute to creating a pleasant work environment.

Aurora Tuozzi: The overall work environment was a good one for me. There were many other interns on my site and in general there is a nice and active young community, which smoothed the shift from a student lifestyle to a working one. There was also a good amount of flexibility in terms of working hours, which was really helpful towards the end of my internship when I had to start working on my thesis. What made this experience even better for me was the opportunity to meet different people within the agency and ask them about their work. They were all very supportive and happy to share and this was incredibly valuable for me as I was a still figuring out what I wanted to do after my studies. I would definitely recommend doing an internship at ESA to anyone considering it!?

How to apply

Browse this year’s opportunities directly on our?recruitment website . Create your candidate profile, upload your CV and add your motivation letter, then submit your application.?

Find out more about what the Student Internship Programme at ESA offers, how the selection process works and the terms and conditions on our?Student Internships page .

If you have any questions about ESA’s Internship Programme, please check our?internship FAQs .

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Find your path at ESA

ESA offers a number of entry-level programmes targeting students (Master or PhD), recent graduates and young professionals alongside its vacancies for experienced professionals. One of them could be your path to space! Quickly find out which programme could be the best fit for you by following the pathways at ESA on our entry-level flowchart .