Openings at SARAO - South African Radio Astronomy Observatory

• The primary purpose of this role is to coordinate ground and air travel arrangements for staff and visitors between Cape Town/Gauteng and the SKA-Mid telescope site near Carnarvon in the Northern Cape. The role also provides administrative support and receptionist cover as required.

Key Responsibilities:

• Planning site travel, accommodation and associated arrangements for staff and make booking.
• Preparing itineraries for staff travelling to site on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays and other days as needed
• Liaising with Charter service provider about flights and availability
• Obtaining information about the availability, cost and convenience of different types of transport and accommodation
• Planning with communications department team about the VIP tour visit to SKA-Mid telescope site
• Enquiring and getting quotations from Charter Service Provider on ad hoc flights required for the VIP visits
• Coordinating and keeping records of operational activities concerning air transport of passengers and freight, such as passenger lists and freight manifests
• Coordinating and keeping records of operational activities concerning road transport, such as allocation and scheduling of vehicles and drivers, loading and unloading of vehicles and storage of goods in transit
• Facilitating the reconciliation of travel invoices to source documents within the Organisation, ensuring that the Finance team have sufficient information to process invoices and recharge parties, as needed
• Serve as a liaison person between the SKAO-Mid and service provider account manager/travel team
• Documenting and maintaining records of staff and visitors invoices, and other travel-related bookings in a timely and accurate manner
• Relieving Receptionist at times
• Answering all incoming calls and responding to queries.
• Directing visitors to appropriate individuals

Key Requirements:
Qualification:

• National Diploma hospitality, travel or a related field.
• Driver’s license

Experience:

• 3 years’ work related experience in travel industry or administration

Knowledge:

• Previous travel and senior administration experience (3 years min)
• Ability to build process flows and establish travel tracking systems
• Ability to understand cost tracking categories in order to allocate costs to various cost centres as well as track items for recharging
• Knowledge and use of any travel booking software
• Report writing
• Accurate minute taker
• Passion for travel and customer service.
• Knowledge of creating contracts

Deadline:19th February,2026

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• The Quantity Surveyor role is required to manage and optimize the financial aspects of engineering and construction projects. This role includes expertise in cost estimation, contract administration, and risk management contribution to the successful execution of projects.
• The role also provides guidance on procurement strategies, prepares tender and contract documents, identify and address commercial risks, analyze tender costings, establish financial control systems, and oversee subcontractor allocations. Quantity Surveyors also negotiate to maintain budget adherence, offer advice on contractual claims, report on project progress, evaluate completed work for valuation and payment, and stay updated on relevant contract conditions and health and safety regulations.

Key Responsibilities:

• Perform detailed quantity take-offs and measurements for project components and materials.
• Prepare accurate cost estimates for engineering, technology development and construction projects, including materials, labour, equipment, and other associated expenses.
• Develop and manage project budgets, track costs, and ensure adherence to budgetary constraints throughout the project lifecycle.
• Monitor project costs, analyse discrepancies, and implement cost control measures to keep the project within budget.
• Prepare tender pricing schedules (incl. BOQs), evaluate bids, and make recommendations for the selection of contractors and suppliers.
• Assist the Project Manager in the preparation of contractual agreements.
• Assess and manage variations and change orders, ensuring proper documentation and agreement with stakeholders.
• Valuing completed work and arranging payments.
• Identify potential risks related to cost, contracts, and project scope and develop strategies to mitigate them.
• Prepare regular reports on project financials, including cost forecasts, cash flow projections, and financial performance executive reports.
• Maintain effective communication with clients (internal & external stakeholders), providing updates on project cost status and addressing their concerns.
• Ensure that the quality of work and materials align with project specifications and standards.
• Stay updated with relevant laws, regulations, and industry standards affecting quantity surveying and construction projects.
• Lead and manage various supply contracts.
• Ensuring that final accounts are negotiated and agreed in a timely manner.
• Establishing and operating cost and financial control systems.
• Contribute towards the development and/or maintenance of project management framework and processes.
• Continuous professional development according to council guidelines; Research/literature studies on quantity surveying to improve expertise; Liaise with relevant bodies/councils on quantity survey-related matters.

Key Requirements:
Qualification:

• Honours Degree in Quantity Surveying, Construction Management, or a related field
• Registration with a relevant professional membership (Advantageous)

Experience:

• A minimum of 4 years’ substantial and demonstrable quantity surveying experience in the engineering and construction sector.
• A strong technical cost management, estimating competency, regulations, and industry standards
• Demonstrable experience in large-scale engineering and construction contracts
• Experience in Engineering, Procurement, and Construction Management

Knowledge:

• Knowledge of project management, planning, risk, and cost control
• Contract Management according to NEC4, FIDIC & GCC (preferred)
• Able to accurately forecast cost
• Proficiency in quantity surveying software and tools
• Project Management theory, principles, standards, and best practice
• Project Estimation
• Procurement and Contract Management
• Public Finance Management Act

Additional Notes:

• Strong decision-making
• Excellent communication – both verbal and written, in English
• Good analytical and planning skills
• Efficiency in a high-pressure environment
• Excellent mathematical and analytical skills
• Proactive
• Financial management
• Problem solving
• Proficient in using quantity surveying software and MS Office Suite
• Willingness to work outside normal hours
• Problem-solving
• No constraints on ability to travel within South Africa and Internationally

Deadline:27th February,2026

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• This position supports the Electrical Technicians and other Electricians in the maintenance and upkeep of electrical lines and power systems across the SARAO Electrical Network.

Key Responsibilities:

• Support the Inspection and Maintenance of Electrical Equipment.
• Support the medication of electrical equipment.
• Support the upkeep of the Electrical Lines
• Support technicians with new installations
• Maintain electrical tools and equipment.
• Digging of trenches.
• Planting of poles.

Key Requirements:
Qualification:

• (Grade 12) 3-year experience maintaining electrical infrastructure. OR
• (Electrical Trade Test Certificate) 0-1 years experience.
• Motor vehicle license (Advantageous)

Experience:

• Electrical maintenance procedures
• Electrical health and safety protocols
• Electrical drawings
• Generator systems.
• Electrical motors.

Knowledge:
Teamwork and Collaboration:

• Ability to reliably estimate and plan work as part of a team.
• Is versatile and enjoys a fast-paced environment
• Good Communication Skills

Deadline:27th February,2026

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• This includes maintaining physical and virtual storage systems, configuring data redundancy, support disaster recovery, monitor capacity usage and ensuring consistent access to business-critical information.

Key Responsibilities:

• Contributing to the development of long-term storage strategies
• Staying abreast of emerging technologies
• Driving innovation in storage solutions.
• Maintaining comprehensive documentation of storage configurations, processes, and procedures generating reports on storage utilization and performance.

Key Requirements:
Qualification:

• B.Tech/B.Sc (Comp Sci or related field) with 13+ years; OR
• B.Eng/B.Sc Hons (Comp Sci or related field) with 8+ years; OR

Experience:

• 6 years of relevant experience includes:
• experience in storage system administration preferably in a high-performance computing environment

or

• engineer role coupled with further education or training in system administration

Knowledge:

• Deep knowledge of storage technologies (SAN, NAS, cloud storage, etc.)
• storage protocols (FC, iSCSI, NFS, CIFS)
• storage management tools
• Linux system installation, configuration and administration
• Operating systems (Windows, Linux, Ubuntu, etc.)
• Security (intrusion detection, data backup/recovery)
• Scripting (Python, C C++ Programming Language)
• Databases (SQL etc.)
• Hardware (server hardware, storage systems and other related components)
• Infrastructure-as-code (e.g., Ansible, Puppet, Chef)
• Distributed monitoring and alerting (e.g., Prometheus, Grafana, Elastic)
• Distributed logging (e.g., ELK stack)
• Deployment (e.g., MaaS, FAI)
• Virtualisation and containerisation (e.g., Openstack, proxmox, Docker)
• Continuous integration (e.g., Jenkins, Buildbot, Github Actions)
• Distributed Storage (e.g., Ceph, Lustre, MinIO)
• Knowledge of high-performance computing infrastructure
• Knowledge of Ethernet networks

Deadline:27th February,2026

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• Coordinate the various SARAO Robotics initiatives and programmes in the various towns surrounding the Telescope.

Key Responsibilities:

• Plan and implement robotics activities.
• Manage logistics for participation in regional, and national robotics, and International Competitions (e.g., FIRST LEGO League, World Robot Olympiad, etc.).
• Assist coaches on recruiting methods and guidelines as well as mentoring learner participating in the robotics programme.
• Support coaches and students in the development, design and building of robotics programmes for competitions and classroom projects
• Procure and maintain accurate inventory of robotics equipment, tools and laptops.
• Ensure all robotics equipment is maintained and in good working condition.
• Promote Robotics activities and achievements through media publications.
• Build partnerships with STEM organisations, universities and community support.
• Facilitate learner participation in science expo.
• Facilitate the participation of learners in Maths and Science Olympia and Astro Quiz.

Key Requirements:
Qualification:

• N.D (Comp Science/ IT) + 2 years working experience.
• 1 year working experience in within robotics in an educational context.

Experience:

• Knowledge of ICT systems and environment.
• Knowledge of computer programming.
• Experience working with Robotics in a schools environment
• Computer programming.

Knowledge:

• Knowledge of ICT systems and environment.
• Knowledge of computer programming.
• Experience working with Robotics in a schools environment
• Computer programming.

Additional Notes:

• Excellent administrative skills
• Robotics facilitation skills.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and communication skills.
• Ability to manage and navigate multiple projects.

Deadline:2nd March,2026