User Terminal Senior Modem Engineer - OneWeb Next

Eutelsat; Piemonte; On-site; EUR 90,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

Eutelsat is seeking a hands-on modem engineer to work on the physical layer of the next‑gen LEO, multi‑orbit and IRIS² terminals. You will build the bench, run measurements, verify against golden vectors, and drive the end‑to‑end testing in a deeply technical role.

You’ll integrate with RF front end and host processor, and help establish new tooling and practices for the team. The role emphasizes firmware, instrumentation, and rigorous root‑cause analysis in a pioneering environment at Eutelsat.

Qualifications

• Engineering degree or MSc in electronics, telecommunications, signal processing or computer science.
• 6–12 years in embedded signal processing, wireless physical layer or modem integration.
• Strong C/C++ on embedded targets with profiling/optimisation experience.
• Fixed-point implementation: scaling, saturation, dynamic range, quantisation effects.
• Knowledge of acquisition, synchronisation, channel estimation and FEC.
• Lab practice with vector signal generators, analysers, oscilloscopes and RF hygiene.
• Python or equivalent for instrument automation and data processing.
• Ability to debug hard, intermittent HW/SW issues and find root causes.
• Version control, CI, and structured release practices.
• Comfort building tools in an evolving capability with a senior architect.
• Assets and satellite terminal/modem experience.
• Experience with multi-core RISC-V subsystems, vector DSP engines, micro-kernel firmware.
• Exposure to 3GPP non-terrestrial or DVB-S2X/DVB-RCS2 waveforms.
• Experience with JESD204, clocking, SYSREF, GHz data converters.
• Timing and synchronisation tests: PTP, G.8275, G.8273.2, 1PPS, GNSS holdover.
• Channel emulation, Doppler profiles and OTA test setups.
• Software-defined radio platforms and OSS signal processing frameworks.
• Experience accepting or qualifying software from other organisations.

Responsibilities

• Bring the platform up: toolchains, boot, firmware images, RISC-V init, clocking, peripherals.
• Work inside PHY software: port/optimise kernels, GLUE code and HALs around FEC.
• Build the laboratory bench: RF chain, signal generators, channel emulator, GNSS simulator.
• Automate instrument control and nightly regression campaigns.
• Run acceptance and characterization campaigns: BER/BLER, Doppler, EVM, spectral mask, throughput.
• Verify software against reference models and maintain regression suite.
• Instrument and profile the target: IQ capture, logging, tracing, memory bandwidth.
• Debug across firmware, DMA, RF symptoms; use JTAG, trace, logic analysers.
• Reproduce partner results on own bench and document discrepancies with evidence.
• Support integration with RF front end, antenna, protocol stack and host processor.
• Investigate issues from qualification and field deployment; drive fixes.
• Document setups, procedures, and results for knowledge base.

Skills

Engineering degree or MSc in relevant

Embedded signal processing

C/C++ on embedded targets

Fixed-point implementation

Digital communications knowledge

RF measurement & lab practices

Python for automation

Debugging hardware/software

Version control & CI

Capability-building mindset

Assets

Satellite terminals / modems

RISC-V subsystems & vector DSP

3GPP non-terrestrial / DVB topics

JESD204 interfaces & SYSREF

Timing & synchronisation tests

Channel emulation & OTA test setups

Open source signal processing

Software acceptance against reference

Education

Engineering degree or MSc in electronics, telecommunications, signal processing or computer science

Tools

Vector DSP engines

Inter-processor communication

Toolchains & debuggers

JESD204 interfaces

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.

We are looking for a hands-on modem engineer to work side by side with our modem architect on the physical layer of Eutelsat's next generation LEO, multi-orbit and IRIS² user terminals: a Ku and Ka band waveform that must acquire below 0 dB Es/N0, track Doppler excursions of hundreds of kilohertz, ride through beam and satellite handovers in tens of milliseconds, and do so within a single digit watt baseband envelope. The target is a single-chip modem module in which the programmable PHY, the protocol stack and the host processor functions share one SoC, built from vector compute engines, a RISC-V control subsystem, hardware accelerators and an on-chip NPU.

Where the architect decides what has to be true, you are the one who finds out whether it is. You will bring the platform up, build the bench and the automation around it, run every measurement campaign, verify what is delivered against golden vectors rather than against the accompanying slides, and chase the discrepancies to their root cause. It is a deeply technical execution role: firmware, instruments, capture files and cycle counts, every day.

This is a founding role in a capability under construction. The tooling, the test assets and the working practices do not exist yet; you will build them, and they will become the way Eutelsat verifies its own terminals.

What you'll do

• Bring the platform up: toolchains and build environments, boot and firmware images, RISC-V subsystem initialisation, converter, clocking and peripheral configuration, and first signal through the transmit and receive chains;
• Work inside the PHY software: build, modify, port and optimise signal processing micro-kernels, their scheduling across signal units, and the glue code and hardware abstraction layers around the FEC and signal processing engines;
• Build and own the laboratory bench: RF chain, vector signal generators and analysers, channel emulator, GNSS simulator, timing test set, and the switching and calibration around them;
• Automate everything that will be run more than twice: scripted instrument control, unattended campaigns, nightly regression on target, a results store and the reporting that goes with it;
• Execute the acceptance and characterisation campaigns defined with the architect: BER and BLER against Es/N0, acquisition time distributions, Doppler ramp and phase noise sensitivity, handover interruption time, EVM, ACLR and spectral mask, throughput and latency, and timing performance against max|TE|, MTIE, TDEV and holdover masks;
• Verify delivered software bit-exactly against the reference model and its golden vectors, quantify and explain every departure, and keep the regression suite aligned as the platform evolves;
• Instrument and profile the target: IQ capture at several points of the chain, logging and tracing, exception handling, performance counters, cycles per sample and per slot, DMA and memory bandwidth occupancy, and interrupt latency;
• Debug across the whole stack, from a firmware exception or a DMA stall to an RF symptom on the analyser: JTAG, trace, logic analyser, capture replay, and bisection through firmware and configuration;
• Reproduce independently the results claimed by our partners, and reproduce the issues they report, so that every technical discussion rests on evidence produced on our own bench;
• Support integration of the modem with the RF front end, the antenna subsystem, the protocol stack and the host processor, and contribute to end to end terminal testing including over the air;
• Investigate issues arising in qualification and early field deployment, and drive them to root cause and to a documented fix;
• Document the setups, the procedures and the results to a standard that lets another Eutelsat engineer reproduce them without you, and feed that material into the team's growing knowledge base.

Qualifications

• Engineering degree or MSc in electronics, telecommunications, signal processing or computer science;
• 6 to 12 years in embedded signal processing, wireless physical layer implementation, modem integration or software defined radio;
• Strong C and C++ on embedded targets, whether bare metal, RTOS or embedded Linux, with real experience of profiling and optimisation, ideally including vector intrinsics;
• Practical experience of fixed point implementation: scaling, saturation, dynamic range and the effect of quantisation on measured performance;
• Working knowledge of digital communications: acquisition and synchronisation, channel estimation and equalisation, demapping and forward error correction, sufficient to know what a kernel computes and what a bad measurement is telling you;
• Solid laboratory practice with vector signal generators and analysers, spectrum analysers, oscilloscopes and logic analysers, and comfort with RF measurement hygiene: calibration, de-embedding, cabling and levels;
• Python or equivalent for instrument automation, post-processing of capture files and comparison against reference models;
• Demonstrated ability to debug hard, intermittent problems across the hardware and software boundary, and the stubbornness to reach root cause rather than a workaround;
• Version control, continuous integration and structured release practice;
• Comfortable working in a capability being built: little existing tooling to inherit, close daily work with a senior architect, and the autonomy to turn an open question into an experiment;
• Assets
• Experience with satellite terminals, satellite modems or ground segment equipment;
• Experience with multi-core RISC-V subsystems, vector DSP engines and micro-kernel firmware, including toolchains, interrupt controllers, DMA engines and inter-processor communication;
• Exposure to 3GPP non-terrestrial network features, or to DVB-S2X and DVB-RCS2 waveforms;
• Experience with JESD204 converter interfaces, clocking and SYSREF distribution, and with GHz-class data converters;
• Experience with timing and synchronisation test: PTP and the G.8275 profiles, G.8273.2 clock classes, 1PPS, GNSS simulation and holdover measurement;
• Experience with channel emulation, Doppler profile generation and over-the-air test setups;
• Software defined radio platforms and open source signal processing frameworks;
• Experience of accepting or qualifying software developed by another organisation.

Where You'll Be:

Paris, London or Turin.

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