User Terminal RF Systems Architect UT Modem Antenna - OneWeb Next

Eutelsat; Paris; On-site; EUR 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Eutelsat in Paris is seeking an experienced RF Systems Engineer to lead budgets, design interfaces between modem and antenna, and verify performance against requirements. You will collaborate with hardware and software teams to deliver robust satellite terminals.

Ideal candidates have a strong background in RF budgeting, phase noise, antenna arrays, and hands-on measurement, with fluent English and a collaborative mindset in a global team.

Qualifications

• Engineering degree or MSc in electronics, radio frequency engineering, electromagnetics or telecommunications.
• Proven experience in RF budgets, noise figure, gain cascade and EIRP/G/T.
• Strong ability to review and challenge RF designs with data and measurements.
• Fluent professional English.

Responsibilities

• Own the modem-to-antenna interface control document and ensure its lifecycle.
• Manage end-to-end RF budgets and verify service performance against budgets.
• Oversee phase noise budget and translate it to carrier tracking and margin.
• Allocate impairment budgets between radio chain and hardware.
• Assess electronically steered antenna designs and beamforming performance.
• Review RF front end, transceiver selection, and integration constraints.
• Define RF/OTA measurement plans and supervise campaigns.

Skills

RF systems design

Budgeting & cost analysis

Phase noise & jitter

Antenna & beamforming

Interface control documents

matlab

Python

Education

Engineering degree

MSc in RF engineering

Tools

MATLAB

Python

Job description

Be part of a new era in communications, transforming connectivity with Eutelsat – the world’s first GEO-LEO integrated global satellite operator.

As a leader in satellite communications, we provide global connectivity solutions - connecting businesses, communities, and governments around the world. We can connect you at on land, at sea and in the air. We also deliver broadcast television channels and packages, transmitting vital news reports around the world.

With Eutelsat You’ll Get To:

• Pioneer the future of Space Technology
• Bring connectivity to remote frontiers
• Collaborate with customer-centric experts
• Embrace cultural diversity in our global team

In a dynamic industry where passion drives our teams to make a difference to become the most trusted partner for global satellite connectivity, you will elevate your skills in a stretching, rewarding, and meaningful environment. At Eutelsat, we’re united by inclusion and diversity, striving for gender balance and social responsibility, on Earth and in Space.

Why Eutelsat ?

• Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion: With colleagues from over 75 countries, we embrace our global DNA and are committed to creating an inclusive workplace. We are proud that one-third of our executive team and 60% of our board are represented by women.
• Ways of Working That Drive Us: As "One Team," we work collaboratively towards shared goals, with customer-centricity, respect, and inclusivity as our guiding principles.
• Sustainability at Our Core: At Eutelsat, sustainability is more than just a word; it’s woven into our strategy. We’re dedicated to balancing social, environmental, and economic growth — both on Earth and in space.
• Work-Life Balance: We offer flexible schedules and hybrid work options to help you balance your personal and professional life. At Eutelsat, we are committed to supporting your well-being and ensuring you have the flexibility you need to succeed both at work and at home.

What you'll do

• Own the modem to antenna interface control document and keep it alive through the programme: digital and analogue signal interfaces, JESD204D/E lane rates, subclass and deterministic latency, analogue IQ alternatives, sampling and clocking plan, reference and 1PPS distribution, control and telemetry plane, beam pointing and beam switching commands with their latency, calibration data flow, gain and AGC partitioning between antenna and modem, power sequencing, and the thermal and mechanical boundary conditions;
• Own the end to end RF budgets and their traceability to service performance: G/T and EIRP at terminal level, noise figure and gain cascade, linearity and intermodulation, power amplifier back-off and efficiency, spurious and harmonics, image rejection and IQ imbalance, frequency and LO plan with spur analysis, and filtering and selectivity against adjacent systems;
• Own the phase noise budget across reference oscillator, PLL and synthesisers, converter clocking and SYSREF distribution, and translate it with the modem architect into its effect on carrier phase tracking, EVM and demodulation margin;
• Allocate the impairment budget between the radio chain and the physical layer, and arbitrate the trade-offs that follow: how much correction is done in silicon and how much must be paid for in hardware;
• Assess and challenge the electronically steered antenna design: array architecture and beamforming approach, element and array patterns, scan loss, sidelobe and grating lobe behaviour, polarisation and axial ratio, calibration strategy and its drift over temperature, pointing accuracy, beam switching time, and their consequences on link availability during satellite transitions;
• Review the modem module radio chain: transceiver and RFIC selection, up and down conversion, filtering, amplification, gain distribution and control range, converter interfacing, isolation and coexistence between transmit and receive, and layout and shielding constraints;
• Assess thermal, power and mechanical constraints as RF performance limits: dissipation of the amplification stages, derating, thermal drift of gain and phase, and their effect on the budgets under real operating conditions;
• Define the RF and over-the-air measurement plans, supervise campaigns run internally or in external facilities, and verify measured results against the budgets rather than accepting summary reports: conducted measurements, anechoic or near-field pattern characterisation, EIRP and G/T verification, EVM and spectral behaviour;
• Define acceptance criteria and milestone entry and exit conditions for RF deliverables, and lead the technical reviews with partners and integrators, arbitrating on measured evidence and analysis;
• Contribute to architecture and sourcing decisions: comparison of RF front end and antenna options, SWaP-C trade-offs, and the technical assessment that supports supplier selection and dual sourcing;
• Build the in-house RF competence: the budget models, the interface documentation, the measurement practice and the review discipline that the growing team will work by, and secure that partner know-how and data land inside Eutelsat in usable form.

Qualifications

• Engineering degree or MSc in electronics, radio frequency engineering, electromagnetics or telecommunications;
• 7+ years in RF systems or RF hardware engineering, with responsibility for the architecture or the budgets of a transceiver, radio front end or antenna subsystem taken to measured performance;
• Solid command of RF system budgeting: noise figure and gain cascade, sensitivity, linearity and intermodulation, dynamic range, EIRP and G/T, frequency and LO planning, spur and image analysis;
• Working knowledge of phase noise and jitter, their sources across oscillators, synthesisers and clocking, and their impact on modulated signal quality;
• Understanding of antenna fundamentals and of phased array behaviour: element and array patterns, beamforming, scan loss, sidelobes, polarisation and calibration;
• Experience working at the interface between RF hardware and digital baseband, including data converter interfacing, sampling plans and clocking distribution;
• Practical measurement experience: spectrum and vector signal analysers, network analysers, noise figure and phase noise measurement, and the hygiene that makes results trustworthy;
• Ability to build and maintain quantitative budget models in Matlab, Python or a system simulation tool, and to reconcile them with measurement;
• Experience writing and maintaining interface control documents, and holding two organisations to them;
• Proven ability to review and challenge a design produced by another organisation, and to substantiate a position with analysis or measurement rather than opinion;
• Comfortable building a capability rather than inheriting one: little existing tooling or process to rely on, decisions taken with incomplete information, and close daily work with modem architecture and verification engineers;
• Eligibility under applicable European and United States export control regulations;
• Fluent professional English.

Assets

• Experience in Ku or Ka band, in satellite terminals, gateways or payload equipment;
• Experience with electronically steered arrays: beamforming integrated circuits, distribution networks, calibration methods and production test;
• Familiarity with 3GPP non-terrestrial network operation, or with DVB-S2X and DVB-RCS2 waveforms and their RF implications;
• Experience with digital pre-distortion and power amplifier linearisation, and with crest factor management;
• Experience with GNSS reception and its coexistence with the transmit chain in a compact terminal;
• Anechoic chamber, near-field or compact range measurement experience, and over-the-air test of active antennas;
• Exposure to high volume hardware: design for manufacture, production calibration and test time, and cost driven component selection;
• Experience of mobility platforms and their constraints: vibration, environmental range and dynamic pointing;
• Experience of supplier technical assessment or due diligence on RF components and subsystems.

Where You'll Be:

Paris, London or Turin.

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