About this job

Sapienza Consulting has a long heritage within the space sector of over 25 years. During this period we have been the leading provider of workforce solutions and have helped to scale many businesses and agencies throughout the world.
 
One of our more established customers in the UK is looking to hire a Senior Radio Communications Systems Engineer to assist with innovative radio subsystem design, radio subsystem modelling and validation/assurance of complete Satcom systems.
 
Your team is working on a range of resilient Satcom related programmes in areas that include requirement definition, system level design, testing and engineering assurance. This is mainly focused on next generation of satellite systems ranging from the NewSpace LEO constellations comprising of small and nano satellites through to MEO/GEO High Throughput Satellites (HTS).
 
Our customer is also engaged in communication solutions that look towards making use of newer innovative platforms including Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) and High-Altitude Pseudo-satellites (HAPS). They are pioneering the use of open and flexible system architectures and standards that best integrate cutting-edge technology and innovations from other communications sectors including cellular (namely 5G), optical communications and revolutionary secure quantum key distribution.
 
They are continually expanding their teams’ capability and particularly in the area of Space Segment Engineering that includes next generation digital satellite payload technology hence the need for a senior radio communications engineer/consultant.
 

Responsibilities

• Carrying out system and sub-system level requirement decomposition, system analysis/modelling and system trade-offs for radio aspects of ground and satellite payload communications systems.
• Contributing to the development of associated service architectures for next generation LEO, MEO and GEO constellation space segments to meet specific service package requirements.
• Communications Air interface design including communications waveforms and underlying protocol stacks in secure and highly mobile environments and associated modelling using simulation.
• Capture and maintenance of system design using a Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) approach throughout the associated development lifecycle.
• Developing link budgets for space, ground, and user segments including environmental modelling (e.g., rainfall, cloud cover, etc).
• Undertaking top-level radio resource capacity planning, design and performance analysis taking account of the satellite communications payload(s), network design and services to be carried.
• Attend and contribute to technical meetings involving team members, customers and potential partners and undertake other appropriate and related duties as directed by the Delivery Manager(s).

Profile

• Effective contribution when working as an integral part of a highly focused Systems Engineering team.
• Track record of taking responsibility for the design and delivery of critical Satcom radio subsystems.
• Evidence of being able to demonstrate innovative and efficient solution engineering to defined problems whilst also working within tight timescales and budgetary constraints.
• Evidence of being able to produce clear, concise, and unambiguous technical documentation conforming to applicable technical and quality standards.
• Good customer-facing and communication skills with an ability to produce and present clear, concise, and unambiguous presentations for senior managers and end customers.
• Confidence and ability to influence senior stakeholders and gain consensus to drive through ideas.

Essential

• UK national (given potential UK defence work being carried out).
• UK security cleared (SC) or above, or readiness to seek clearance.
• Graduate with a good Honours or Masters Degree in a relevant subject (e.g., Electronics, communications, aerospace engineering). Equivalent qualifications and/or experience will be considered.
• 10+ years of Systems Engineering experience applying structured Systems Engineering approaches to complex space-related programmes.
• 5+ years’ experience in carrying out system and sub-system level requirement decomposition, system analysis/modelling and system trade-offs for radio aspects of communications systems.
• 5+ years’ experience in air interface design including the design of communications waveforms and underlying protocol stacks with particular emphasis on the physical, link and network layers.
• Experience in simulation and modelling of communications networks using MATLAB and Simulink or equivalent toolsets.
• Experience of designing multi-beam satellite payloads, associated radio resource planning and resource management approaches designed to deliver required services over the satellite payload(s) efficiently.
• Experience in design and assessment of software, firmware, and hardware solutions as part of the radio system design, encompassing transparent and regenerative payload operation.
• Awareness of security architectures, engineering and design principles when developing secure Satcom systems.

Desirable

• Chartered Engineer, or equivalent.
• Experience gained with satcom networks employing steerable beam payload technology.
• Experience of using STK to model communications coverage in multi-satellite scenarios.
• Experience in the development and maintenance of associated platform link budgets for space, ground, and user segments and environmental modelling (e.g., rainfall, cloud cover, etc).
• Experience in design and modelling of military radio systems for operating on high mobility platforms in secure environments.
• Experience in the specification and modelling of frequency hopping, 4G and 5G waveforms and technology.
• Experience in the specification of optical free-space links, inter-satellite link operation and satellite payload photonic circuits.
• Experience of Direct Radiating Array (DRA), multi-beam antenna technologies and satellite payload beamforming techniques.
• Experience of satcom design for HAPS or UAV platforms.