Technical Lead – Earth Observation Platforms & GeoAI Innovation

Do you want to help shape the next generation of Earth Observation platforms? At VITO, we turn satellite data into trusted information that supports decisions in areas such as climate resilience, agriculture, forestry, water management, infrastructure, security and defense. Our Environmental Intelligence unit works on large-scale platforms that make Earth Observation data easier to access, process and use by governments, industry, researchers and international organizations.

We are looking for a hands-on Technical Lead who combines strong software architecture skills with curiosity for innovation in Earth Observation and GeoAI. In this role, you will help us design and build platforms that allow users to work with massive volumes of satellite data, from data access and processing to intelligent, AI-supported geospatial services.

You will play a key role in projects for organizations such as ESA, the European Commission, and other institutional partners. Together with our teams, you will take our current platform stack, including leading open-source technologies openEO, and reference platforms such as Terrascope and the Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem, and help evolve it towards new capabilities such as VHR data, geospatial embeddings, semantic search, AI agents, LLM-enabled user interaction and secure deployment in sovereign environments.

This is a role for someone who enjoys both thinking ahead and building things that work. You will contribute to technical direction, make architectural choices, guide colleagues, and help turn ambitious ideas into reliable platform components. You do not need to be an expert in every technology from day one, but you should bring the experience, drive and learning mindset to lead complex technical work and grow with the fast-moving GeoAI domain.

You will join an agile and collaborative team of software engineers, solution architects, operations specialists and Earth Observation experts. We work in an international environment, contribute to open-source software and collaborate with partners who are shaping the future of satellite data services in Europe and beyond.

What you will do:

• Shape the architecture of Earth Observation platforms that support large-scale data access, processing, catalogues, APIs, user environments and operational services.

• Take a leading technical role from proposal writing to execution in innovation projects for ESA, the European Commission, and other institutional customers.

• Explore and integrate new GeoAI capabilities, such as embeddings, semantic search, AI agents, LLM-enabled interfaces and foundation-model approaches.

• Help evolve openEO, Terrascope and Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem services towards AI-ready, federated and sovereign deployment models.

• Work closely with software engineers, operations teams, EO experts, product owners and project managers to bring ideas into production.

• Support engineering quality through good architecture, automated testing, continuous integration, documentation, observability and reusable components.

• Contribute to technical roadmaps, project proposals and stakeholder discussions with a clear and practical technical vision.

• A strong technical background in software engineering, computer science, data engineering, Earth Observation, geomatics or a related field.

• Experience as a technical lead, software architect or senior engineer in cloud-native platforms, distributed processing systems or data-intensive applications.

• Solid programming experience, preferably in Python and/or Scala, and the ability to guide technical choices across a broader software stack.

• Familiarity with cloud-native technologies such as Kubernetes, containerisation, object storage, CI/CD, observability tooling or distributed processing frameworks.

• Interest in Earth Observation platforms and open standards such as openEO, STAC, OGC APIs, Jupyter-based environments, Terrascope or the Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem.

• Continuous curiosity for GeoAI, including topics such as embeddings, vector search, semantic search, foundation models, AI agents or LLM integration.

• An interest in secure, sovereign or restricted deployment environments; prior experience in this area is a plus.

• A collaborative leadership style: you enjoy guiding colleagues, sharing knowledge and making complex technical choices understandable.

• Fluency in English; Dutch and/or French are an asset.

A NATO security clearance is required for this position and will be part of the onboarding process.

Offer

• We operate in an activity‑based way, meaning your work activities guide where you work. Our headquarters is located in Mol, and we anticipate an average onsite presence of about 50%. We also support flexibility: part‑time remote work or working from one of our satellite offices in Antwerp‑Berchem, Genk, Leuven, Kortrijk or Ostend is possible.

• A competitive salary with a range of benefits, including allowances, insurance, and a modular package of holidays.

• Innovation is our asset, so it goes without saying that we give our employees the opportunity to take additional training courses and stay up-to-date in their field. You will always have the opportunity to broaden your knowledge and discover new technologies.

• You will have the opportunity to be part of an organization with an international reputation, known for its cutting-edge technological research and scientific consultancy.

• With us, you will contribute directly to sustainable developments at local, national and global level through your innovative applications. You provide answers to contemporary societal challenges.

• Moreover, we highly value a good work-life balance at VITO! This is achieved by adopting a flexible attitude depending on your specific needs.