Industrial Cost Auditor

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Vacancy in the Directorate of Commercialisation, Industry and Competitiveness.

ESA is an equal opportunity employer, committed to achieving diversity within the workforce and creating an inclusive working environment. We therefore welcome applications from all qualified candidates irrespective of gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, beliefs, age, disability or other characteristics. Applications from women are encouraged.

This is a non-renewable post for a limited duration of 4 years and is classified A2-A4 on the Coordinated Organisations’ salary scale.

Location ESTEC, Noordwijk, Netherlands or ESA Headquarters, Paris, France or ESAC, Villanueva de la Cañada, Spain or ESOC, Darmstadt, Germany

Description

Industrial Costs Auditor in the Industrial Audit Services Office, Industrial Policy and Auditing Department, Directorate of Commercialisation, Industry and Competitiveness.

The industrial costs audit function is of vital importance to ESA. As the Agency spends a large proportion of its annual budget on placing contracts with the space industry, ensuring that Member States receive a proper return in terms of value for money is very important. The audit activity plays an essential role in this process.

Reporting to the Head of the Industrial Audit Services Office, you will be responsible for general industrial costs analysis and auditing-related activities in support of the ESA procurement process.

Duties

Your tasks and responsibilities will include the following.

In direct contact with industry:

• Audit, analysis and negotiation of industrial hourly labour rates and overheads; unit rates (such as facility charges); and other overheads, on the basis of detailed reviews carried out on companies’ cost structures.
• Audit of direct expenditure on contracts, including compliance with ESA rules.
• Financial viability audits on the basis of detailed reviews carried out on companies’ financial data.
• Nationality audits on the basis of established processes and criteria for nationality attribution.
• Audits in support of the verification of geo-return data.
• Audits carried out in direct support of programmes, including a detailed analysis and review of industrial contractual documents.
• Verification of companies’ cost accounting systems in order to ascertain compliance with generally accepted accounting principles and with ESA rules.

In direct contact with ESA internal stakeholders and other support activities:

• Participation in Tender Evaluation Boards and Cost Panels for the analysis of financial and cost-related matters, as well as support for ESA programme directorates in direct negotiations with industry.
• Advising on financial matters, such as currency exchange, price variation formulae, productivity, inflation, hourly rates and business case assessments.
• Collaboration on and coordination of cost and audit activities with other national and international organisations.
• Support for day-to-day audit activities, including the preparation of concise and accurate documentation (such as audit reports, policies and processes), analysis of data and collection of information.
• Other audit tasks/projects as requested of the Office.

When performing these duties, you, as Industrial Cost Auditor, will interface closely with senior industry representatives, ESA and industry project management teams, ESA Contracts Officers, other ESA finance and cost engineering functions and auditors of other national audit authorities.

Technical competencies

Experience in cost and financial/management accounting

Knowledge of accounting systems, standards and tools

Knowledge of calculation methodologies of hourly labour/facility and overheads rates

Knowledge of auditing techniques

Good analytical and negotiation skills

Behavioural competencies

Result Orientation Operational Efficiency Fostering Cooperation Relationship Management Continuous Improvement Forward Thinking

Education

A master's degree in business administration, corporate finance and accounting, auditing or economics is required for this post.

Additional requirements

• Minimum of three years of experience in auditing activities
• Readiness to travel frequently

Other information

For behavioural competencies expected from ESA staff in general, please refer to the ESA Competency Framework.

For further information please visit: Professionals, What we offer and FAQ

The working languages of the Agency are English and French. A good knowledge of one of these is required. Knowledge of another Member State language would be an asset.

The Agency may require applicants to undergo selection tests.

At the Agency we value diversity and we welcome people with disabilities. Whenever possible, we seek to accommodate individuals with disabilities by providing the necessary support at the workplace. The Human Resources Department can also provide assistance during the recruitment process. If you would like to discuss this further please contact us at [email protected].

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Please note that applications are only considered from nationals of one of the following States: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Canada, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia.

According to the ESA Convention, the recruitment of staff must take into account an adequate distribution of posts among nationals of the ESA Member States*. When short-listing for an interview, priority will first be given to internal candidates and secondly to external candidates from under-represented Member States*.

In accordance with the European Space Agency’s security procedures and as part of the selection process, successful candidates will be required to undergo basic screening before appointment conducted by an external background screening service.

In principle, recruitment will be within the advertised grade band (A2-A4). However, if the selected candidate has less than four years of relevant professional experience following the completion of the master’s degree, the position may be filled at A1 level.

*Member States, Associate Members or Cooperating States. ​