Senior LEO Satellite Payload Engineer

<p><span>ReOrbit is looking for a 5G NTN LEO Satellite Payload Engineer to join our team and contribute to the development of next-generation satellite communication payloads supporting 5G New Radio (NR) Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) services. This is an exciting opportunity to work on innovative satellite communication systems that enable seamless integration between satellite and terrestrial mobile networks, pushing forward the boundaries of space-based connectivity.</span></p><p><span>As our 5G NTN LEO Satellite Payload Engineer, you will contribute to the end-to-end architecture, design, analysis, and validation of communication payloads for Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite systems. You will work across 3GPP NTN standards, RF and digital payload design, link budget analysis, waveform and signal processing, system-level performance analysis, and payload verification. We are looking for someone who combines a strong understanding of 5G NR physical-layer technologies with practical satellite communications engineering experience and a system-level perspective. The ideal candidate is analytical, hands-on, and comfortable collaborating across multidisciplinary teams to solve complex engineering challenges.</span></p><p>It's an exciting chance to join a dynamic start-up, with the opportunity to make a real impact, to reach our goal of pushing the boundaries of space data transfer.&nbsp;</p><p>This job can be based in our headquarter in Helsinki, Finland or Bengaluru,&nbsp;India.</p><p><strong>Responsibilities</strong></p><ul><li><p><span>Define and develop communication payload architectures for 5G NR NTN-enabled LEO satellite systems, translating mission and service requirements into payload specifications, performance budgets, and subsystem requirements.</span></p></li><li><p><span>Evaluate transparent (bent-pipe) and regenerative payload architectures, considering their impact on protocol processing, latency, system complexity, and overall performance.</span></p></li><li><p><span>Develop payload functional architectures covering RF front-ends, frequency conversion, digital processing, channelisation, switching, routing, and antenna subsystems, as applicable.</span></p></li><li><p><span>Define and analyse payload interfaces with satellite antennas, spacecraft subsystems, ground gateways, and terrestrial 5G network infrastructure.</span></p></li><li><p><span>Perform architecture trade-off studies addressing capacity, coverage, spectral efficiency, power consumption, payload mass, thermal dissipation, and implementation complexity.</span></p></li><li><p><span>Apply relevant 3GPP 5G NR NTN specifications, particularly Releases 17 and 18, to payload design and system implementation.</span></p></li><li><p><span>Analyse NTN-specific requirements and enhancements related to timing advance, frequency compensation, synchronisation, random access, mobility, and radio resource management.</span></p></li><li><p><span>Assess the impact of LEO satellite dynamics, propagation delay, Doppler shifts, and differential Doppler across satellite beams on waveform and protocol performance.</span></p></li><li><p><span>Evaluate NTN operating scenarios across relevant frequency bands, including L-band, S-band, and Ku/Ka-band, depending on the system architecture.</span></p></li><li><p><span>Develop and analyse RF payload performance requirements, including transmit power, receiver sensitivity, noise figure, gain, linearity, dynamic range, and intermodulation performance.</span></p></li><li><p><span>Perform link budget analysis and assess uplink and downlink performance under realistic LEO operating conditions, taking into account RF impairments, phase noise, frequency errors, power amplifier nonlinearities, interference, and antenna-related losses.</span></p></li><li><p><span>Analyse digital payload functions such as digital channelisation, beamforming, frequency translation, filtering, switching, and onboard signal processing.</span></p></li><li><p><span>Collaborate with antenna, RF, FPGA, ASIC, digital signal processing, and payload hardware teams to optimise end-to-end performance, multi-beam configurations, frequency reuse, interference management, and system capacity.</span></p></li><li><p><span>Develop and maintain analytical models and simulation environments for 5G NTN payload and end-to-end system performance, evaluating throughput, sp