Senior Software Engineer - 3GPP, 4G/5G PHY (put 5G in orbit)

Senior Software Engineer, 5G Physical Layer: put 5G in orbit

Ruhr area (NRW), Germany · On-site · Permanent · Relocation package · Excellent salary

Your phone already talks to cell towers. Now make it talk to satellites.

Our client is building one of the most ambitious low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite systems in the world. It is designed to connect billions of devices anywhere on the planet, from container ships mid-ocean to sensors in remote farmland, all through standard 5G.

The hardest part of that challenge sits right at the bottom of the stack: the physical layer. That’s where you come in.

Why this role is different

Most 5G PHY roles today mean maintaining someone else’s code for terrestrial networks. This one puts you at the frontier of 5G Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN). These are some of the hardest problems in wireless right now: Doppler shifts of satellites moving at 7 km/s, long round-trip delays, and link budgets measured across hundreds of kilometres of space.

You won’t be starting from a blank page or a slide deck. You’ll join an established, highly experienced engineering team with a proven, commercial-grade 4G/5G PHY and protocol stack code base. It’s the kind of foundation that takes years to build, and it’s now pointed at space.

What you’ll do

• Design, implement and optimise 5G NR PHY algorithms (3GPP Rel 15/16/17 and beyond) in embedded C/C++: channel estimation, equalisation, synchronisation, coding/decoding and HARQ
• Bring your code to life on ARM, DSP and hardware-accelerator SoC platforms under hard real-time constraints, using embedded Linux, FreeRTOS and Zephyr
• Integrate with RF front-ends and digital baseband chains, then prove it in the lab with Rohde & Schwarz and Keysight test equipment and real user devices
• Debug across the full hardware/software boundary, and own your work from algorithm to working system
• Work alongside RF, DSP, systems and protocol stack engineers in a collaborative international team

What you’ll bring

• Significant experience as an embedded C/C++ software engineer
• A strong background in 4G/5G PHY and digital communications theory
• Experience with SoC architectures and SDR platforms
• MATLAB and Python for algorithm development and analysis
• An MSc/MEng in Electrical or Communications Engineering, or equivalent

Bonus points: deep 3GPP specification knowledge, NTN or satellite communications, DSP/accelerator implementation, link budgets and channel modelling, lab bring-up.

What’s in it for you

• Space-scale impact: your code will run on a system designed to deliver connectivity across the globe
• A highly competitive salary, plus benefits covering health and financial well-being
• A full relocation package to help you and your family settle in Germany
• Real ownership: a focused team where your work matters, not a narrow slice of a giant organisation
• An English-speaking, international team across Europe and beyond
• Continuous learning at the leading edge of 5G-Advanced and 6G

Eligibility: EU/EEA citizenship is required for this role.

Interested? Contact Jabe Bean at GTS Space for a confidential conversation. Client details are shared at the first call.