(Senior) Engineer, Constellation Simulation, IRIS2

The job responsibilities outlined in this document are not exhaustive and may evolve over time and be reviewed according to business needs.

Programme Description

IRIS² is the new European Union secure satellite communications constellation. This project is the European Union's answer to the pressing challenges of tomorrow to provide secure connectivity services and enhanced communication capacities to the EU and its Member States as well as to governmental users, private companies and European citizens while ensuring high-speed internet broadband to cope with connectivity dead zones.

SES – together with other consortium partners and core members – was selected by European Commission to build and to operate the IRIS² multi-orbit satellite constellation.

As the IRIS² programme enters its next phase, robust simulation and analytical capabilities are required to support constellation design, product development, service definition, infrastructure planning, and engineering trade-off decisions.

Role description summary

We are looking for a highly capable Constellation Simulation Engineer to develop and maintain software models of satellite constellations, communications links, ground infrastructure, and diverse populations of user terminals.

The successful candidate will use these simulation capabilities to assess system performance, evaluate alternative constellation and infrastructure designs, and determine how effectively proposed solutions address forecast market demand. The role combines satellite communications engineering, dynamic system modelling, software development, data analysis, and technical decision support.

The engineer will transform large and complex simulation outputs into clear, actionable insights using analytical and visualization tools. They will work closely with service and system engineering teams for ground and space segments to ensure that simulations represent relevant business and technical assumptions and that their results can support architecture and investment decisions.

The role also includes responsibility for the quality and operational sustainability of the simulation software, including automated testing, configuration control, documentation, and management of CI/CD processes on Microsoft Azure in collaboration with the SES IT team.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES / KEY RESULT AREAS

Constellation and Communications Simulation

• Develop, maintain, and validate software simulating satellite constellations and their communications links to diverse populations of user terminals.
• Model relevant space, ground, network, traffic, and service elements, including orbital dynamics, coverage, visibility, link budgets, interference, capacity, routing, gateways, and user demand.
• Represent multi-orbit and time-varying system behaviour at an appropriate level of fidelity.
• Integrate technical inputs from system engineering, payload, ground segment, and service teams.
• Ensure simulation assumptions, constraints, limitations, and interfaces are clearly defined and traceable.
• Assess model accuracy through analytical checks, reference cases, sensitivity studies, and comparison with independent data or tools.

System and Infrastructure Trade-Off Analysis

• Support trade-off analyses across market demand, service performance, product definitions, constellation architecture, satellite capabilities, spectrum, gateways, and network infrastructure.
• Evaluate alternative system configurations and identify solutions that balance technical performance, demand capture, operational constraints, cost, and implementation risk.
• Quantify system capacity, service availability, resource utilization, bottlenecks, and demand satisfaction.
• Conduct sensitivity and scenario analyses to identify the assumptions and design parameters with the greatest influence on system performance.
• Provide evidence-based recommendations to support architecture selection, infrastructure planning, and programme decisions.
• Clearly communicate the implications, uncertainties, and limitations associated with simulation results.

Data Engineering, Analysis, and Visualization

• Process, validate, and analyse large datasets originating from simulations, market-demand models, engineering databases, and external sources.
• Build reliable, automated and repeatable data-processing workflows for scenario preparation, execution, aggregation, and reporting.
• Develop visualizations, dashboards, maps, and engineering summaries that make complex system behaviour understandable and actionable.
• Identify trends, anomalies, constraints, and opportunities within simulation outputs.
• Maintain reproducibility, and traceability from source inputs to reported conclusions.
• Tailor analytical outputs to technical, programme, product, and management audiences.

Simulation Software Engineering

• Develop modular, maintainable, tested, and documented simulation software, primarily using Python, MATLAB, or suitable lower-level languages such as Rust.
• Define clear software interfaces and reusable components for constellation, link, traffic, resource, and reporting models.
• Improve simulation performance, scalability, and reliability for computationally intensive scenarios and large datasets.
• Evaluate new modelling approaches, algorithms, libraries, and computing technologies where they offer demonstrable value.

CI/CD and Azure DevOps

• Manage and continuously improve the simulation software CI/CD process on Microsoft Azure in collaboration with the SES IT team.
• Maintain automated pipelines for build, test, validation, packaging, and deployment activities.
• Support controlled software releases and reproducible execution environments.

Collaboration and Communication

• Work closely with system engineering, satellite engineering, ground segment, service, operations, and IT teams.
• Translate business and engineering questions into well-defined simulation experiments and measurable evaluation criteria.
• Challenge assumptions constructively and ensure that conclusions are supported by appropriate evidence.
• Coordinate model inputs and interfaces with internal stakeholders and partners where required.
• Communicate progress, risks, dependencies, and technical findings clearly and promptly.

Qualifications Background and Experience

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Telecommunications Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Applied Mathematics, or a related discipline.
• Minimum of three years of experience modelling complex, dynamic systems.
• Minimum of three years of software-development experience using Python, MATLAB, or comparable languages.
• Good knowledge of satellite constellations and satellite communications systems.
• Understanding of orbital geometry, coverage, radio-frequency links, link budgets, interference, capacity, and communications-system performance.
• Experience designing and performing engineering trade-off, sensitivity, or optimization studies.
• Experience handling large datasets and deriving insights through analytical and visualization libraries.
• Ability to develop clear, maintainable, tested, and documented technical software.
• Experience with source control and collaborative software-development workflows.
• Experience documenting technical assumptions, methods, results, and limitations.
• Fluency in English; proficiency in another language is considered an asset.

The following experience would be considered an advantage:

• Experience with multi-orbit constellation modelling, telecommunications network simulation, resource allocation, or traffic-demand modelling.
• Knowledge of optimization techniques, operations research, numerical methods, or geospatial analysis.
• Experience with scientific-computing and data-analysis libraries in Python or MATLAB.
• Experience developing high-performance software in Rust or another lower-level language.
• Experience with Azure DevOps, Microsoft Azure, automated testing, and CI/CD pipelines.
• Experience using containers, infrastructure automation, or reproducible development environments.
• Familiarity with cloud or distributed computing for large simulation workloads.
• Experience working in satellite, telecommunications, aerospace, or other complex system-engineering programmes.

Other key requirements / comments

• Eligibility for ESA/EU SECRET personal security clearances is essential. Candidates must be prepared to undergo a security clearance procedure, as this position may require holding such a clearance
• Willing to work at least 60% onsite from office
• Travel as required for project realization purposes

SES is an Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Employer