Software Engineer

Introduction

Serco is a leading Space Services Provider with thousands of skilled resources that has supported over 50 space missions on behalf of more than 10 Space or Government agencies around the globe, including the ESA and NASASerco Italia S.p.A. is one of the top 50 World Space Manufacturing and Service companies with a long history of providing Earth Observation operations, maintenance and front-end services to the European Space Agency. The company also offers vast experience to a huge number of IT and space markets including central governments, defense organizations, the aerospace industry and commercial companies.

On behalf of our team in Italy, we are looking for a Software Engineer to support our Copernicus Sentinel operations, maintenance and coordination activities, and work on a full time, permanent position with a hybrid working style from our office in Rome. We are seeking a Software Engineer with a  development and application-operations mindset, able to support the full lifecycle of our Copernicus EO applications, including dashboards, data pipelines, operational tools, and user interfaces. The role covers software evolution, deployment support and automation, monitoring, incident/anomaly analysis, documentation, and continuous improvement based on operational feedback. The role also requires practical experience with AI-assisted engineering, using coding agents and generative AI tools to support development, testing, documentation,  troubleshooting, and analysis. The candidate should be able to use AI effectively and responsibly, and contribute to AI-enabled features such as automation, data visualization and chatbots.

Duties and responsibilities:

• Design, develop, maintain, and evolve software applications supporting EO service monitoring, reporting, alerting, data visualization and performance analysis.
• Perform corrective and evolutive software maintenance, including troubleshooting, bug fixing, testing, and improvement of existing applications.
• Support software operations in operational environments, including deployment, release support, configuration, monitoring.
• Support incident and anomaly management, including analysis of software behaviour, root-cause investigation, corrective actions, reporting, and activity tracking.
• Develop and improve dashboards and web interfaces, contributing to usability, graphical design, data visualisation, and effective presentation of operational information.
• Contribute to the integration of AI-enabled capabilities into operational software.
• Produce and maintain software technical documentation, operational procedures, work instructions,  anomaly reports, and performance reports.
• Interface with multiple teams.
• Participate in on-call or extended working hour support when required by the service.

Skills and attributes:

• Ability in AI-assisted development tools and coding agents, such as Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, Gemini CLI, or similar.
• Proactive mindset and ability to propose improvements, innovations, and evolutions of existing software solutions, keeping pace with technology trends and operational needs.
• Strong proficiency in working in Linux environment, shell, bash scripting.
• Strong proficiency in Python for backend development, automation, scripting, data processing, and API integration.
• Ability to work with SQL and NoSQL databases, including querying, data modelling, and database design in support of software applications.
• Ability to work with docker and containerized environments and applications.
• Familiarity with frontend and web technologies, with attention to dashboard usability, graphical design, modern visualization, and user experience.
• Good understanding of software development lifecycle, corrective/evolutive maintenance, testing, debugging, version control, and collaborative
• Ability to use JIRA or similar ticketing systems to track activities, actions, incidents, anomalies, and reporting workflows.
• English Level B2, written and spoken.

Knowledge and experience:

• Experience designing, developing, maintaining, and evolving software applications in operational or service-oriented environments.
• Experience supporting software during nominal operations, including deployment support, incident/anomaly analysis, troubleshooting, corrective actions,  and coordination with operations or infrastructure teams.
• Familiarity in applying AI-assisted development practices in real software engineering activities, such as coding, testing, documentation, debugging, or  analysis.
• Familiarity in integrating AI-enabled features into software applications is an appreciated asset.
• Experience working with databases as part of software design and implementation, including querying, structuring, and maintaining application data.
• Experience producing technical documentation, operational procedures, work instructions, reports, or similar engineering documentation.
• Knowledge and experience of working with cloud-based IT environments.
• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, IT, Software Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, or a related field.

Additional skills:

• Knowledge of large data-flow monitoring, complex system observability, service performance analysis, and reporting systems is an asset.
• Knowledge of service operations, ITIL practices, incident/problem/change management, operational readiness, Agile methodologies, and continuous improvement.
• Experience with JIRA and GitHub.
• Experience analysing performance metrics, identifying trends, correlating operational events, and deriving actionable insights from system data.
• Knowledge of Keycloak or other Identity and Access Management solutions is an appreciated asset
• Strong problem-solving and analytical skills, with the ability to troubleshoot complex systems and identify root causes of performance issues.

What We Offer

• National Collective Labor Agreement (CCNL Commercio)
• Hybrid working model
• Permanent employment contract
• Salary from 30,000 euro
• 13th and 14th monthly salary payments
• Meal, snacks, and free coffee when on-site at Serco Rome Office
• Health insurance coverage, also extended to family members
• Life Insurance
• Company-sponsored training programs
• Shuttle service to the Rome office
• Discounted membership at Fit Express Roma sports center
• Discounts at retail stores within the Domus shopping center (restaurants, hairdressers, beauty services, etc.)

The Company reserves the right to evaluate the appropriate job level and compensation package based on objective criteria emerging during the selection process, in line with the candidate’s seniority, the role requirements and consistency with internal pay equity parameters for comparable positions, and in compliance with principles of fairness, transparency, and equal opportunity as set out by applicable law.