Senior Digital Comms Payload Engineer (SATCOM)

Location: Hybrid role based in Harwell, UK; Athens, Greece; Barcelona, Spain; or Porto, Portugal. Candidates must have the legal right to work in their chosen location.

Company

hirify.global develops end-to-end satellite missions and space-based data and connectivity services for businesses, governments, and researchers.

What you will do

• Define digital subsystem architectures for satellite payloads and ground communication systems.
• Translate product and system requirements into scalable digital processing capabilities and implementation specifications.
• Collaborate across payload, network, air interface, and security domains to deliver integrated designs.
• Lead Digital-in-the-Loop modelling and prototyping to validate performance, latency, and power targets.
• Derive compute resource requirements and govern high-speed interfaces including JESD204, SpaceWire, and Ethernet.
• Provide technical oversight across firmware and hardware development, including secure hardware integration and resilience mechanisms.

Requirements

• Strong understanding of digital system architecture and high-performance processing in communication systems.
• Experience defining and integrating complex digital subsystems across space and ground environments.
• Knowledge of FPGA, ASIC, SoC, and emerging silicon technologies for advanced processing systems.
• Understanding of digital signal processing, Software Defined Radio architectures, regenerative payloads, signal integrity, synchronisation, and high-speed data transfer.
• Proficiency in MATLAB, Simulink, or Python for system-level modelling and simulation.
• Legal right to work in the selected role location is required; CV must be submitted in English.

Nice to have

• Knowledge of DVB-S2X and 3GPP NTN communication standards.
• Understanding of beamforming, pre-distortion, secure boot, encryption, and hardware resilience in space-grade environments.

Culture & Benefits

• Work on space technology supporting Earth observation, IoT connectivity, and secure communications.
• Contribute to a mission-driven effort to make space more accessible.
• Collaborate with customers and partners around the globe.
• Join a diverse, ambitious, and supportive team.