Ideally starting in January | limited contract (1 year) | 30 hours | incl. paid lunch break | based in Vienna
The Earth Observation (EO) Associate supports MSF’s EO and geospatial innovation activities by contributing to the daily production of EO products, managing imagery data and workflows, and assisting with research and development tasks. Working under the EO & GIS R&D Manager and guided by the EO team, the Associate collaborates closely with the EO/R&D team, operational support staff, and volunteers. This role offers practical, hands-on experience with operational Earth Observation in a humanitarian context.
What we OFFER you
– Hands-on experience within an EO/GIS team in a leading international humanitarian NGO.
– Exposure to operational satellite imagery workflows, humanitarian mapping needs, and current R&D use cases.
– Home office and modern office with flex-desks in the heart of Vienna (2nd district).
– Work-life balance through flexible working hours and paid lunch break.
– A buddy system at the start to help you feel right at home.
– A trustful working environment in a friendly and highly professional team.
– Allowance for your annual public transportation ticket up to EUR 467,- per year.
– A minimum annual salary of € 30.100 gross p.a. for 30 hours/week with the option of overpayment up to a maximum of € 35.400 gross p.a. if you bring relevant position-related qualifications and professional experience that go beyond the requirements profile. You will also receive monthly child allowance for dependent children.
What you BRING along
– You have a bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) in Remote Sensing, Geography, GIS, Environmental Science, or a related discipline.
– You have some hands-on experience (academic, internship, or voluntary) with remote sensing, satellite imagery, and GIS tools.
– You are fluent in English. Knowledge of German and/or French is an asset.
– You are familiar with basic GIS and remote sensing concepts, key EO data sources (such as high-resolution commercial imagery and Sentinel), and software like ArcGIS. Basic understanding of data handling and image processing
– If you have knowledge of programming (Python scripting/R/Google Earth Engine) it is an advantage.
– You are a motivated team player with strong communication skills and the ability to work collaboratively in a diverse, interdisciplinary environment.
– You are flexible, creative, and proactive in managing workload, solving problems, and developing technical expertise in EO workflows and humanitarian applications.
– Administrative requirements: You have access to the Austrian labor market.
What you can EXPECT
– You support the production and delivery of EO products by assisting with processing tasks such as feature extraction, classification, mapping, and imagery data management and metadata.
– You maintain EO workflows and provide first-line user support, ensuring best practices are followed and coordinated with technical leads for complex requests.
– You contribute to research, testing, and evaluation of EO methods, data sources, tools, and services to enhance their quality and operational relevance for humanitarian use.
– You prepare documentation and share insights on EO developments, ensuring the team stays informed about emerging trends and technologies.
– You maintain and develop EO documentation, datasets, tools, and learning resources to support internal knowledge transfer.
– You assist in organizing trainings, workshops, and communication efforts that showcase EO achievements and promote knowledge sharing within MSF.
– You collaborate actively within the EO, R&D, and wider GIS community, contributing to a supportive, inclusive, and learning-oriented team culture while building technical and operational knowledge.
– You take initiative in professional growth, including participating in a jointly defined exploratory project to deepen expertise in a selected EO or geospatial innovation area.
Would you like to support MSF’s mission and demonstrate real commitment?
Then we look forward to receiving your application, including CV and letter of motivation (max. 1 page in which you clearly describe how you meet the requirements), latest January 4th, 2026, via our application tool: https://hr-web.msf.org/Announcement/Details/535?Section=74
We reserve the right to close the position before the above deadline if we have received a sufficient number and quality of applications.
We are an equal opportunity employer. As an international organization, we support diversity, openness and mutual respect. Incoming applications are solely evaluated regarding their professional qualifications. Applications are considered regardless of ethnic and social origin, religion or belief, gender, sexual orientation, disability, age and all other diversity characteristics, in line with our principles.
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