Staff Engineer (Satellite Communications)
Company: ICEYE
Salary: Competitive
Location: Espoo, Finland
Department: Fleet Control and Satellite Communications
Reports to: Director, Fleet Control and Satellite Communications
Employment type: Permanent
Workplace model: Hybrid. 3 days a week at the office
Note: Employment is subject to applicable security screening (incl. SUPO, where required)
Why this role matters
As a Staff Engineer in Satellite Communications, you will own the satellite-to-ground link, the core communications protocols, and the end-to-end transmission of data from ground stations to customers. The trend is that the constellation produces an increasing volume of data and the company wants it down faster and more reliably. As the company scales, the communications link sets the limit on what it delivers and how fast customers receive it. You'll own the end-to-end communication stack: the satellite-to-ground link (X-band, Ka-band and S-band), the underlying protocols used, and the transmission of data from ground stations to customers. Today these decisions are spread across several teams; this role brings them under one technical owner. The work sits where software meets physics: on one side are link budgets, modulation and coding, and spectrum constraints; on the other are schedulers, distributed systems and production operations. The hardest problems live where the two meet. You own what you build, from design to production, across a stack that combines cloud, on-prem and real hardware. The engineering culture is AI-positive, with active use of copilots and LLMs to improve speed, code quality and productivity.
Who We Are
ICEYE is the world leader in sovereign intelligence from space. They deliver persistent monitoring capabilities to detect and respond to changes in any location on Earth. ICEYE owns the world's largest and most advanced SAR (synthetic aperture radar) satellite constellation. To customers they provide intelligence with unmatched quality, latency and revisit times, in any weather, day or night. To governments who choose to operate their own constellation they provide this proven capability as a sovereign system. ICEYE-built constellations serve customers in defence and intelligence, environmental monitoring, insurance and emergency management. They enable fast decisions that contribute to a safer future. Founded and headquartered in Finland, ICEYE operates globally with over 1000 employees across Europe, North America, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific.
Your day-to-day responsibilities
•Own the architecture of the satellite-to-ground link across X-band and Ka-band payload downlink and S-band command and control
•Measure what the constellation delivers against its theoretical capacity, and lead the work that closes the gap
•Design how data moves from ground station to customer, including latency tiers and delivery accounting
•Build alongside software engineers, contributing code and reviews, not only architecture documents
•Lead technical initiatives across team boundaries and align teams on link and data path decisions
•Grow satellite communications expertise across the domain through mentoring, design reviews and shared standards
What we're looking for
Must haves:
•Communications engineering on at least one flown mission, including personally diagnosing an anomaly on a live satellite
•High-rate payload downlink experience in X-band or Ka-band, beyond S-band command and control
•Ability to build and defend a link budget: EIRP, G/T, Eb/N0, margin, rain fade, elevation constraints
•Practical CCSDS knowledge: transfer frames, virtual channels, synchronisation and channel coding, file delivery
•Experience owning how data moves from a ground station to where it is consumed, with latency and completeness guarantees
•Hands-on coding in Python, Go, C++ or similar; you ship code, not just designs
Nice to haves:
•Active use of AI-assisted development tools (e.g., copilots, LLMs) to improve productivity, code quality, and problem-solving
•Fleet-scale contact planning and scheduling across commercial ground station networks, especially leased third-party capacity
•DVB-S2/S2X with adaptive coding and modulation
•Delay-tolerant networking, or other store-and-forward file delivery with completeness accounting
•SDR and DSP work: GNU Radio, FPGA or RFSoC, including personal or open-source projects
•Awareness of spectrum regulation and coordination (there is a separate spectrum licensing team, so this is a plus rather than a requirement)
Application Process
•TA Partner Screen Call (30 min)
•Hiring Manager Interview (90 min)
•Technical Interview (120 min)
•Values and Fit Interview (60 min)
•Final interview with SVP of Engineering (60 min)
Working at ICEYE
At ICEYE, you'll join a diverse and highly engaged team united by the ambition to make the impossible possible. As a global scale-up, they combine speed and ambition with the opportunity to take real ownership from day one. Growth, wellbeing, and success are a priority, with continuous professional development, training opportunities, and a culture where collaboration is how they win.
How We Work (Our Values)
•Make the impossible possible: We set ambitious goals and stay calm under pressure. We bring grit, optimism, and ownership when things get hard, and we keep moving until we find a way.
•Be curious: Go deep, ask questions, listen carefully, and think critically. Understand the "why" behind decisions.
•See the big picture: Stay close to what's happening across the company so you can make better decisions. Consider how your work affects others.
•Drive effective teamwork: Create psychological safety, invite different perspectives, and build inclusive teams. There are no bad questions.
•Act as one team: We win together. We match tasks to the right owner and stay agile as priorities shift.
•Have fun: What we do matters, and it should be enjoyable. Celebrate progress, take pride in results, and share the wins.
Benefits
Benefits are designed to support health and wellbeing, at work and beyond. They keep improving them based on employee feedback, and offerings vary by location. Talent Attraction will confirm what applies for this role and location during the process.
