IRIS2 Satellite Telecommunications Payload Engineer - LEO Constellations & Regenerative Payloads

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Who You’ll Be

As a Satellite Telecommunications Payload Engineer, you will be responsible for the end-to-end technical management of advanced telecommunications payloads for LEO constellation satellites, from mission and service definition through architecture, design, industrialisation, assembly, integration, testing, commissioning, and in-orbit operation.

You will lead the technical definition, design follow-up, and performance verification of regenerative and digitally processed payload architectures. These architectures may include onboard digital processing, modem functions, channelisation, packet switching and routing, traffic aggregation, digital beamforming, dynamic resource allocation, and software-defined or reconfigurable payload functions.

The role requires a strong understanding of how an individual satellite payload operates as part of a complete LEO communications network. You will ensure consistency between the payload, spacecraft platform, inter-satellite links, gateways, user terminals, ground network, network-management systems, and constellation operations.

You will translate constellation-level service requirements—including coverage, capacity, latency, availability, resilience, mobility, and quality of service—into payload requirements, performance budgets, interfaces, and verification objectives.

You will also act as the technical interface for the procurement and industrialisation of payload equipment, ensuring that onboard processors, RF chains, active antennas, amplifiers, frequency converters, filter assemblies, and associated hardware and software meet mission-level performance, recurring-cost, reliability, production, and schedule objectives.

What You’ll Do

• Oversee the complete lifecycle of regenerative telecommunications payloads for LEO constellation satellites, from initial concept and architecture definition through production, launch, commissioning, and in-orbit operation.
• Translate service, mission, network, and system requirements into payload-level technical requirements, performance budgets, interface-control documentation, verification requirements, and unit specifications.
• Define payload functional architectures and allocate functions across RF hardware, digital processors, FPGA and ASIC devices, embedded software, onboard network-processing functions, inter-satellite links, and ground infrastructure.
• Lead architecture trade studies covering regenerative, transparent, and hybrid payload implementations, including the allocation of processing functions between the satellite and ground network.
• Define and assess onboard processing functions such as digitisation, channelisation, demodulation and decoding, packet or traffic switching, routing, regeneration, re-encoding, remodulation, beamforming, and dynamic bandwidth allocation.
• Ensure that payload architecture and performance support constellation-level objectives for coverage, capacity, throughput, latency, service availability, resilience, security, scalability, and graceful degradation.
• Perform and maintain RF, digital, processing, and network performance budgets, including EIRP, G/T, gain, noise figure, linearity, interference, processing capacity, throughput, latency, memory, compute resources, timing, power, and thermal allocations.
• Analyse LEO-specific communications effects, including Doppler and Doppler-rate variation, timing and frequency synchronisation, satellite and beam handovers, feeder-link switching, gateway diversity, moving coverage patterns, and time-varying interference.
• Contribute to the definition and performance assessment of user links, feeder links, and inter-satellite links, in close collaboration with ground-network, terminal, antenna, modem, and system-engineering teams.
• Assess onboard routing and inter-satellite connectivity strategies, including traffic steering, path diversity, resilience, congestion management, and coordination with the ground-based network-control architecture.
• Analyse and optimise active and phased-array antenna architectures, digital beamforming, beam steering, beam hopping, coverage allocation, calibration, and dynamic resource-management functions.
• Lead technical reviews and design evaluations with satellite manufacturers, payload suppliers, and equipment manufacturers, ensuring compliance with RF, digital, software, network, reliability, and system-performance objectives.
• Review hardware, FPGA, ASIC, firmware, and embedded-software architectures associated with regenerative payload equipment and ensure that the allocation of functions between hardware and software is technically robust.
• Assess payload reconfigurability and software-defined capabilities, including secure configuration management, software and firmware updates, rollback strategies, compatibility management, and deployment across an operational satellite fleet.
• Establish the payload verification and validation strategy across unit, subsystem, satellite, and end-to-end network levels.
• Oversee payload assembly, integration, and test activities, including engineering-model testing, FlatSat or hardware-in-the-loop validation, environmental qualification, satellite-level testing, end-to-end network testing, and in-orbit testing.
• Analyse payload and network test results, identify performance gaps and non-conformances, and coordinate corrective actions with suppliers and internal engineering teams.
• Support satellite launch, early-orbit operations, payload commissioning, service entry, and constellation deployment activities.
• Investigate payload anomalies arising during integration, testing, commissioning, or in-orbit operation, coordinating across payload, spacecraft, ground, terminal, network, and operations teams.
• Maintain payload configuration consistency across satellite production batches while managing approved design changes, component obsolescence, software releases, and satellite-to-satellite configuration differences.
• Manage the procurement of payload units, including onboard digital processors, modems, active antenna equipment, RF repeater chains, high-power amplifiers, frequency converters, filter assemblies, and associated control electronics.
• Monitor supplier design, manufacturing, qualification, production, and acceptance activities, ensuring that equipment is suitable for repeatable deployment across a LEO satellite fleet.
• Work with supply-chain, manufacturing, product-assurance, quality, and contracts teams on supplier audits, production-readiness reviews, yield improvement, cost control, obsolescence management, and risk mitigation.
• Ensure that design choices account for manufacturability, testability, production throughput, recurring unit cost, automated testing, and configuration control across multiple satellite production batches.
• Monitor developments in regenerative payloads, digital signal processing, onboard networking, active antennas, software-defined radios, 5G non-terrestrial networks, advanced satellite waveforms, and constellation networking.
• Contribute to the definition of technology roadmaps and future LEO missions, identifying opportunities to improve payload flexibility, capacity, resilience, automation, and cost effectiveness.
• Identify technical, supplier, production, or programme areas requiring management attention and provide clear recommendations and regular status updates.

What It Takes

• A university degree in Telecommunications, Aerospace, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related discipline. A Master’s degree or PhD in a relevant specialisation is preferred.
• At least 8–10 years of experience in satellite telecommunications payload or communications-system engineering, including design, development, integration, testing, and in-orbit validation.
• Proven experience with LEO or other non-geostationary satellite systems, preferably involving a multi-satellite constellation or a large-scale space-based communications network.
• Strong understanding of constellation-level system engineering and the relationship between individual satellite payload performance and overall network coverage, capacity, latency, availability, and resilience.
• Demonstrated experience with regenerative or digitally processed payload architectures, including onboard digital processing, channelisation, modem functions, packet or traffic switching, routing, and reconfigurable payload functions.
• Experience with digital transparent processors, regenerative processors, software-defined payloads, FPGA or ASIC-based processing, embedded software, and hardware/software functional partitioning.
• Strong knowledge of RF and microwave engineering, including high-power amplification, low-noise amplification, frequency conversion, multiplexing, filtering, linearity, interference, and RF distribution.
• Experience with active antennas, phased-array antennas, digital beamforming, beam steering, beam hopping, antenna calibration, or dynamic coverage allocation.
• Understanding of user-link, feeder-link, and inter-satellite-link architectures and their interfaces with gateways, user terminals, ground networks, network management, and satellite operations.
• Experience analysing LEO-specific effects such as Doppler, timing and frequency synchronisation, mobility, satellite handover, beam handover, feeder-link switching, and dynamic topology changes.
• Familiarity with communications-network concepts such as packet switching, routing, quality of service, congestion management, traffic engineering, resilience, redundancy, and network synchronisation.
• Familiarity with payload test methodologies, AIT processes, FlatSat or hardware-in-the-loop environments, end-to-end network validation, environmental qualification, and in-orbit testing.
• Experience with payload commissioning, fleet-performance monitoring, and the investigation of in-orbit RF, digital, software, or network anomalies.
• Demonstrated experience in the procurement or supplier management of space-grade payload equipment, including specification, supplier evaluation, design follow-up, qualification, acceptance, and contract interface.
• Experience working with manufacturing and supply-chain partners on production readiness, configuration control, recurring cost, automated testing, yield, reliability, obsolescence, and supplier-performance monitoring.
• Proficiency with analytical, simulation, and automation tools such as MATLAB, Python, ADS, HFSS, STK, or equivalent tools.
• Ability to define or develop engineering models for link performance, waveform performance, processing capacity, coverage, latency, interference, handover, routing, and constellation-level service performance.
• Strong communication and teamwork skills, with the ability to work across multidisciplinary and multicultural teams covering payload, RF, digital hardware, software, antennas, spacecraft, ground networks, user terminals, operations, manufacturing, procurement, and programme management.
• Ability to communicate complex technical matters clearly to suppliers, engineering teams, programme stakeholders, customers, and senior management.
• Fluent written and spoken English. Knowledge of French would be an advantage.
• Willingness and ability to travel regularly for supplier reviews, technical meetings, production-readiness reviews, integration activities, and test campaigns.

Additional Skills That Would Be an Advantage

• Knowledge of 3GPP 5G New Radio and Non-Terrestrial Network architectures, including the impact of LEO propagation, timing, Doppler, mobility, beam management, and feeder-link switching on the radio-access network.
• Knowledge of DVB-S2 and DVB-S2X, including modulation and coding, adaptive coding and modulation, waveform optimisation, framing, link adaptation, and performance assessment.

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