The Wilhelm-Foerster-Sternwarte Planetarium in Berlin, Germany, has opened the Head of Technology position. This employee will hold the organisational and technical responsibility of acquisitioning, operating and servicing all technical systems, ensuring their permanent operability and continuous optimization. The Wilhelm‐Foerster‐Sternwarte e.V. with Planetarium am Insulaner is a non‐profit association administrating an extraordinary combination of an observatory and a large planetarium. The latter is equipped with a 20m dome, a Zeiss Vb projector, installed in 1965, and a Zeiss Powerdome / Sciss Uniview system, installed in 2010 with 8 Velvets. Looking back on a tradition of more than fifty years, either institution offers a great variety of programs and lectures.

Key Responsibilities:

• Planning, monitoring and servicing of all technical systems and appliances of the planetarium/observatory, including the planetarium projector, fulldome-, laser- and sound systems, render farm, telescopes as well as audio visual equipment and IT;
• Managing and developing the technology department;
• Planning and implementing activities of building renovation and maintenance in collaboration with the municipal real eastate management;
• Collaborating with the Zeiss‐Großplanetarium and the Archenhold Sternwarte;
• Representing the Wilhelm‐Foerster‐Sternwarte at expert conferences inland and abroad.

For 2016, it is intended to merge the astronomical institutions of Berlin (i.e. Archenhold‐Sternwarte, Wilhelm‐Foerster‐Startwarte mit Planetarium am Insulaner and Zeiss‐Großplanetarium) within a public foundation under the responsibility of the department for education, young people and sciences of the Berlin city council. As a consequence, the responsibilities will be extended to the newly founded common organization.

Professional & Personal Requirements:

• University degree, with a masters degree (diploma) of multimedia production, computer sciences or comparable qualification;
• Operational experience of technical systems of planetariums, observatories, fulldome systems and multimedia production systems;
• Practical experience of planning and servicing render farms and IT network systems;
• Capability of thinking and working in an autonomous and cost‐effective way, of collaboration and teamwork;
• Experience in staff management of a large number of employees, interpersonal skills;
• Trustworthiness, personal flexibility, organising abilities, negotiating skills, assertiveness, poise;
• Basic understanding of astronomical concepts;
• Extraordinary command of spoken and written English;
• Competent knowledge of standard applications like MS Office as well as planetarium and fulldome applications;
• Practical experience of working with render management applications;
• Automobile driver license, willingness to go on business trips.

NB! Since women are underrepresented at this job level, the planetarium administration strongly encourages applications of qualified women. In case of equal qualifications and meeting the above‐mentioned requirements, handicapped applicants will be preferred. Applications from candidates with a migration background meeting the same requirements are explicitly desirable. If you get interested in this position, check out its full description either in English or in German. Please note that applications including a CV, copies of all certificates of academic qualifications, certificates of employment and ‐ in case you are a public sector employee ‐ an agreement of requesting and inspecting your personnel file, must be received in hard copy no later than November 2, 2015 at: Wilhelm‐Foerster‐Sternwarte e.V., Board Munsterdamm 90 12169 Berlin Please do not send any applications online or via email. Refrain from making enquiries via telephone or letter. Be sure to put the copies of your documents into transparent plastic holders. Application documents can only be returned if a postage paid envelope is included. Four weeks after the end of the application procedure and after notifying the applicants, the organization will not store any documents if not informed otherwise.