Senior Leadership Assessor / Quality Lead – European Space Agency

Senior Leadership Assessor / Quality Lead – European Space Agency

Location: Europe (Remote with occasional travel to ESA sites)

Type: Permanent

About the Opportunity

Octagon Professionals is looking for a Senior Leadership Assessor/Quality Lead to work for the European Space Agency and support the ESA Leadership Competency Assessment (LCA) programme as a technical quality lead, ensuring scientific rigour, consistency, and high-quality assessment delivery.

Role Responsibilities

• Conduct leadership assessments using a multi-method approach, including psychometric testing, structured interviews, and virtual assessment centre exercises.
• Lead and participate in competency-based interviews across different leadership levels.
• Evaluate candidate performance against validated competency frameworks and target profiles.
• Act as Quality Lead, ensuring consistency, fairness, reliability, and scientific rigour across all assessments.
• Review and validate assessment outputs, including individual and comparative reports.
• Produce concise, evidence-based assessment reports with clear conclusions and actionable development recommendations.
• Present and debrief assessment outcomes to ESA interview boards, providing expert insights for decision-making.
• Support calibration sessions and consistency reviews across assessor teams, ensuring alignment in evaluation standards.
• Provide technical oversight of assessment methodologies, tools, and processes.
• Contribute to the design and validation of assessment methodologies, tools, and target profiles.
• Support the continuous improvement of the LCA framework, tools, and processes.
• Participate in pilot phases, validation cycles, and methodological updates.
• Provide training and guidance to ESA HR stakeholders on assessment processes and interpretation of results.

Essential Skills and Experience

• Master’s degree in Psychology, Occupational Psychology, Organisational Psychology, Behavioural Science, or related discipline.
• Minimum 8 years of experience in leadership assessment and selection, including senior-level roles.
• Proven experience with multi-method assessment approaches, including psychometric testing and assessment centres.
• Strong expertise in competency-based interviewing and behavioural assessment methods.
• Demonstrated experience in assessment quality assurance and report writing.
• Ability to present complex assessment findings clearly to senior stakeholders.
• Experience assessing middle and senior management populations.

Desirable Skills and Experience:

• Chartered Occupational Psychologist.
• EuroPsy accreditation.
• Assessment Centre Assessor accreditation.
• Experience working with scientific, engineering or public-sector organisations.
• Experience supporting international organisations.

Package:

• Opportunity to contribute to a prestigious European leadership assessment programme.
• Flexible working arrangements.
• International and multicultural environment.
• Long-term growth opportunities linked to ESA programmes.