Senior RAN Test Architect — NTN eNodeB and gNodeB

Sateliot; Barcelona; On-site; EUR 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Real impact on space project

Growth: courses or master’s funding

Private health insurance & UrbanSports

Flexible schedule & hybrid work

Global team & buddy from day one

Job summary

Sateliot, a Barcelona-based satellite company, seeks a Senior RAN Test Architect to own validation across NB-IoT and 5G NR non-terrestrial domains. You will write test specifications, define acceptance criteria, and ensure evidence-backed validation across the stack, independent from engineers implementing it.

You will turn the lab into a validation capability with SDR benches, channel emulation, and automated regression in CI.

Qualifications

• Own test and validation for cellular radio access with self-written specs.
• Derive test specs from 3GPP specifications and set meaningful acceptance criteria.
• Own the test system: harness/automation, what goes in CI vs bench, regression suite.
• Deep lab practice: protocol analysis, SDR benches, channel emulation, load and stability campaigns.
• NB-IoT, LTE or 5G NR validation with a commercial-grade stack.

Responsibilities

• Own the test specification for RAN components and acceptance criteria.
• Build the test pyramid: L1, RF performance/conformance, protocol, load, capacity and stability.
• Challenge designs early and validate deliverables without bias.
• Turn the lab into a validation capability with SDR benches and automation.
• Validate supplier deliveries and evidence with field testing teams.

Skills

Test specification

Lab validation

CI/CD

Channel emulation

NB-IoT/LTE/5G NR

Tools

SDR benches

Channel emulation

Test terminal

CI/CD

Job description

Sateliot is a Barcelona-based satellite company with one goal: connect everything, everywhere. Founded in 2018, we've built the first satellite constellation that lets standard commercial devices communicate directly from space. Our technology bridges the gaps that terrestrial networks will never reach, bringing affordable and secure connectivity to industries, governments, and communities across the planet.

Learn more: https://sateliot.space/

About The Team & This Role

Sateliot brings standard cellular connectivity from space and develops key parts of its radio access technology in-house. That makes validation a discipline of its own: whoever proves that a radio stack does what it is supposed to do should not be the person who wrote it. As Senior RAN Test Architect you own how our radio access components get validated — what must be tested, to which criteria, and what counts as evidence — across the NB-IoT and 5G NR non-terrestrial domains, and you are deliberately independent from the engineers implementing them. This is a senior role for someone who writes test specifications, not only test reports.

What you'll do

• Own the test specification for our RAN components: what gets tested, against which acceptance criteria, and what constitutes proof that a feature behaves as designed.
• Build the test pyramid and keep it honest: L1 and RF performance and conformance, protocol stack, load, capacity and stability, interoperability and field.
• Be the independent counterpart to the stack developers — challenge designs early, and validate what they deliver without having a stake in it.
• Turn our lab into a validation capability: SDR benches, channel emulation, our own test terminal, and automated regression running in CI.
• Own the validation of supplier deliveries and the evidence behind what we commit outside the department, working with our field testing teams on the campaigns that close the loop.

What you bring

• Complete ownership of test and validation for cellular radio access, with test specifications you wrote yourself and saw through review with developers, operators or certification partners.
• The ability to derive a test specification from a 3GPP specification, and to set acceptance criteria that catch real defects rather than produce green dashboards.
• Ownership of the test system itself: harness and automation design, what belongs in CI and what belongs on the bench, and a regression suite that stays affordable as the stack grows.
• Deep lab practice - protocol analysis, SDR benches, channel emulation, load and stability campaigns - and the root-cause discipline to say where a failure actually lives: stack, device or link.
• NB-IoT, LTE or 5G NR validation experience with a commercial-grade stack.

Bonus if you have

• Validation and testing experience of non-terrestrial networks.
• Conformance and certification frameworks: 3GPP RAN5, GCF or operator acceptance.
• Test automation and CI/CD for radio software.
• Having built a test capability or organisation from scratch.

Additional requirements

• We would prefer you based in Barcelona, where the labs and most of the team sit, and the role is hands-on with the benches. For the right person the location is negotiable, India included, with regular time on site.
• Occasional travel for field test campaigns.
• Working proficiency in English.

How we work

We lead with humility, move fast, and take ownership. We collaborate without ego and measure ourselves by real impact, not titles or hierarchy. We hire people who already live these values.

What we offer

• Real impact on one of Europe's most ambitious space projects.
• Growth: we cover 50% of courses or master's degrees (up to 5% of your salary), plus Spanish and Catalan classes.
• Health & balance: 50% on private health insurance and Urban Sports Club, a flexible schedule, and hybrid work, we focus on results, not hours.
• Flexible Compensation: flexible compensation through Cobee (meal, transport, kindergarten).
• A truly global team: 20+ nationalities building something genuinely new - and genuinely nice to work with. Great vibes, real teamwork.
• A real welcome: a dedicated buddy from day one.
• Life outside work: we organize leisure and sports activities both during and outside working hours - because great teams connect beyond the screen.
• Catering: if you don't have time to cook, we partner with a catering company so a freshmeal is sorted, no need to think about it.
• Parking: on-site parking at the office, with Sateliot covering 50% of the cost - plus free bike parking if you prefer to pedal in.

Sound like you?

Sateliot is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Employment decisions are based on merit, qualifications, and business needs, without discrimination on the basis of any legally protected characteristic.