Senior LEO Satellite Payload Engineer

ReOrbit is looking for a 5G NTN LEO Satellite Payload Engineer to join our team and contribute to the development of next-generation satellite communication payloads supporting 5G New Radio (NR) Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) services. This is an exciting opportunity to work on innovative satellite communication systems that enable seamless integration between satellite and terrestrial mobile networks, pushing forward the boundaries of space-based connectivity.

As our 5G NTN LEO Satellite Payload Engineer, you will contribute to the end-to-end architecture, design, analysis, and validation of communication payloads for Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite systems. You will work across 3GPP NTN standards, RF and digital payload design, link budget analysis, waveform and signal processing, system-level performance analysis, and payload verification. We are looking for someone who combines a strong understanding of 5G NR physical-layer technologies with practical satellite communications engineering experience and a system-level perspective. The ideal candidate is analytical, hands-on, and comfortable collaborating across multidisciplinary teams to solve complex engineering challenges.

It's an exciting chance to join a dynamic start-up, with the opportunity to make a real impact, to reach our goal of pushing the boundaries of space data transfer. 

This job can be based in our headquarter in Helsinki, Finland or Bengaluru, India.

Responsibilities

• Define and develop communication payload architectures for 5G NR NTN-enabled LEO satellite systems, translating mission and service requirements into payload specifications, performance budgets, and subsystem requirements.

• Evaluate transparent (bent-pipe) and regenerative payload architectures, considering their impact on protocol processing, latency, system complexity, and overall performance.

• Develop payload functional architectures covering RF front-ends, frequency conversion, digital processing, channelisation, switching, routing, and antenna subsystems, as applicable.

• Define and analyse payload interfaces with satellite antennas, spacecraft subsystems, ground gateways, and terrestrial 5G network infrastructure.

• Perform architecture trade-off studies addressing capacity, coverage, spectral efficiency, power consumption, payload mass, thermal dissipation, and implementation complexity.

• Apply relevant 3GPP 5G NR NTN specifications, particularly Releases 17 and 18, to payload design and system implementation.

• Analyse NTN-specific requirements and enhancements related to timing advance, frequency compensation, synchronisation, random access, mobility, and radio resource management.

• Assess the impact of LEO satellite dynamics, propagation delay, Doppler shifts, and differential Doppler across satellite beams on waveform and protocol performance.

• Evaluate NTN operating scenarios across relevant frequency bands, including L-band, S-band, and Ku/Ka-band, depending on the system architecture.

• Develop and analyse RF payload performance requirements, including transmit power, receiver sensitivity, noise figure, gain, linearity, dynamic range, and intermodulation performance.

• Perform link budget analysis and assess uplink and downlink performance under realistic LEO operating conditions, taking into account RF impairments, phase noise, frequency errors, power amplifier nonlinearities, interference, and antenna-related losses.

• Analyse digital payload functions such as digital channelisation, beamforming, frequency translation, filtering, switching, and onboard signal processing.

• Collaborate with antenna, RF, FPGA, ASIC, digital signal processing, and payload hardware teams to optimise end-to-end performance, multi-beam configurations, frequency reuse, interference management, and system capacity.

• Develop and maintain analytical models and simulation environments for 5G NTN payload and end-to-end system performance, evaluating throughput, spectral efficiency, link availability, latency, coverage, capacity, and link margin.

• Model orbital geometry, satellite motion, propagation conditions, Doppler dynamics, and beam footprints to characterise system performance and identify opportunities for optimisation.

• Conduct system-level trade-off studies to optimise waveform parameters, carrier bandwidth, modulation and coding schemes, beam configurations, and resource allocation.

• Define payload verification plans, test cases, and acceptance criteria based on system and subsystem requirements.

• Support the integration and testing of RF and digital payload hardware, including laboratory testing, hardware-in-the-loop simulation, and end-to-end demonstrations.

• Validate payload performance using 5G NR test equipment, channel emulators, software-defined radio (SDR) platforms, and protocol or waveform analysers, as appropriate.

• Analyse test results, identify performance gaps, conduct root-cause analysis, and drive corrective actions to support payload qualification, system integration, and in-orbit performance validation.

• Work closely with satellite platform, antenna, RF, modem, ground segment, 5G radio access network (RAN), core network, and systems engineering teams.

• Prepare and maintain interface control documents, technical specifications, design reports, and verification documentation, contributing to design reviews, technical risk assessments, and engineering decisions.

• Collaborate with external vendors, technology partners, and standards organisations to assess emerging technologies and approaches that can improve payload performance, scalability, reliability, and cost.

Skills and Requirements

• Bachelor's or master's degree in Electrical Engineering, Communications Engineering, Telecommunications, Aerospace Engineering, or a related discipline.

• Relevant professional experience in satellite communications, wireless systems, RF engineering, digital communications, or communication payload development.

• Strong understanding of 5G NR physical-layer concepts, including OFDM, modulation and coding, synchronisation, channel estimation, MIMO, and radio resource allocation.

• Knowledge of satellite communication link budgets, RF performance parameters, propagation effects, and end-to-end communication system design.

• Understanding of LEO satellite operating characteristics, including orbital dynamics, Doppler shifts, propagation delays, and satellite-to-ground geometry.

• Experience with system modelling, simulation, and quantitative performance analysis using tools such as MATLAB, Simulink, Python, or equivalent.

• Ability to translate high-level service and system requirements into engineering specifications, performance budgets, and verification criteria.

• Experience analysing complex technical systems, evaluating design alternatives, and making data-driven engineering decisions.

• Strong analytical, problem-solving, communication, and cross-functional collaboration skills.

• Experience with 3GPP 5G NR NTN specifications, particularly Release 17 and/or Release 18, is a strong advantage.

• Hands-on experience designing, analysing, or validating satellite communication payloads for LEO or other non-geostationary satellite systems is an advantage.

• Experience with RF payload design, RF front-end characterisation, phased-array antennas, beamforming, or multi-beam satellite architectures is an advantage.

• Knowledge of regenerative payloads, onboard digital processing, digital transparent processors, channelisers, or software-defined payloads is beneficial.

• Experience with 5G NR protocol stacks, modem implementation, SDR platforms, FPGA-based signal processing, or waveform validation is beneficial.

• Familiarity with NTN channel models, Doppler compensation, timing synchronisation, random access, mobility management, and satellite handover is beneficial.

• Experience with RF test equipment, channel emulators, hardware-in-the-loop testing, and end-to-end system validation is beneficial.

• Familiarity with relevant 3GPP, ETSI, ITU, and satellite communication standards and regulatory frameworks is an advantage.

• Experience with link-level and system-level simulation, including interference analysis and capacity optimisation, is beneficial.

What does ReOrbit do?

ReOrbit builds the foundation for the next generation of space applications by transforming satellites into truly intelligent, interconnected platforms, defined by software. Our satellite design philosophy revolves around the idea that satellites must network, communicate with each other and thus improve mission efficiency. How can this be achieved? Thanks to a flexible software-first architecture, where all these aspects are dealt with upfront in the mission concept, as integrated functionalities.

ReOrbit’s top-notch team of software engineers and system architects develop in-house software, procure hardware from the best-in-class suppliers, and seamlessly integrate the components to create flexible and secure satellites. Today, we are a rapidly growing company building a very strong multidisciplinary team to support our activities. We are headquartered in Helsinki, Finland with a subsidiaries in Bristol, UK, Bariloche, Argentina and Bengaluru, India.

Working at ReOrbit

At ReOrbit, we are focused on building a strong team as we believe nothing can be accomplished without innovative, humble and curious minds working together on a common goal. We’re all about fostering an inclusive, dynamic environment where equality and diversity are our strength.

We offer

• Challenging but rewarding environment - you will thrive if you are always reflecting on how to make things better. Your ideas will be heard.

• Ambitious and supportive network of people, who are motivated to change the space industry, bringing expertise from both classic and new space .

• Benefits such as lunch vouchers, events, parties, occupational health care and additional health insurance - but most importantly a possibility to be a part of a unique and diverse team, connected by similar mindset and sense of humor.

• We like to spend time together! You can choose activities whichever is to your liking - runOrbit, climbOrbit; become ping pong or board games champion.

• We support relocation and integration into Finnish society.

Join us in our journey of building software enabled satellites for secure communications

and, thus, creating the most compelling in space data flow company of the new space era.

The Company may require a security clearance for certain positions. Any such security clearance will be conducted in accordance with applicable law and the Company's relevant policies

For agencies: We do not accept unsolicited CVs for our open vacancies. Any CV sent to our team unsolicited will reserve us the right to pursue a candidate without obligation to the sender. All candidate submissions must be conducted through our official channels and in accordance with our terms of engagement.