Lead Terminal PHY Architect - Space Modem & Waveform

Eutelsat; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Eutelsat is seeking an experienced modem architect to become the technical authority on the physical layer of next‑gen Ku/Ka band terminals in a hybrid London‑area role. You will own the PHY requirements, model links, and oversee the architecture from software to silicon, collaborating with external partners and internal teams.

The role demands a deep background in digital modem design, high performance FEC, fixed‑point implementation, and real‑time partitioning across heterogeneous cores.

Qualifications

• MSc or PhD in signal processing, digital communications, telecommunications or electronics.
• 12+ years in digital modem or wireless physical layer engineering.
• Deep expertise in synchronisation and estimation theory for real receivers.
• Practical command of forward error correction: LDPC, turbo or polar decoding.
• Hands-on experience with programmable PHY platforms and their SDKs.
• Fixed point design and quantifying implementation loss vs floating point.
• Working knowledge of real-time partitioning across heterogeneous cores and accelerators.

Responsibilities

• Build and own the PHY platform, SDK and toolchain integration, profile and instrument code.
• Define and safeguard terminal physical layer requirements and traceability across the program.
• Assess and challenge receive-chain performance, acquisition at low SNR and phase noise handling.
• Audit coding schemes, decoders and FLOP/latency budgets for FEC accelerators.
• Scrutinise the transmit chain for waveform shaping, spectral masks and EVM budgets.
• Lead architecture reviews with partners, ensuring design rationale and documentation land in Eutelsat.
• Define acceptance criteria and run lab-to-field verification campaigns.

Skills

Digital modem

Wireless PHY

LDPC/turbo/polar decoding

Synchronization & estimation theory

Fixed point design

SDKs & programmable PHY

Real-time partitioning

Education

MSc or PhD in signal processing, digital communications, telecommunications or electronics

Tools

SDKs

Vendor development environments

FPGA/ASIC

Job description

Eutelsat is seeking an experienced modem architect to become the technical authority on the physical layer of next‑gen Ku/Ka band terminals in a hybrid London‑area role. You will own the PHY requirements, model links, and oversee the architecture from software to silicon, collaborating with external partners and internal teams.

The role demands a deep background in digital modem design, high performance FEC, fixed‑point implementation, and real‑time partitioning across heterogeneous cores.