Principal Software Engineer

ROLE DESCRIPTION SUMMARY

SES Inflight has an exciting opportunity for a Principal Software Engineer. You will be part of a team responsible for 

• Optimizing and automating GEO satellite capacity used for commercial aviation tails and hence optimizing the user experience of on-board passengers
• Gather and distribute critical flight data such that information about flights and supporting satellite beams are understood
• Work with the satellite capacity management team solving problems such that they can most efficiently meet customer needs with SES’s most valuable asset, that is satellite capacity 

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES / KEY RESULT AREAS

• Able to develop and maintain scalable, modular, fault-tolerant, and portable software for the Mobility Control Program that dynamically allocates aircraft to GEO satellites as they move between cities. Functionality includes:
• Linux based servers with redundancy and high availability to provide coordination and connectivity between to all aspects of the system, that is client software instances on airplanes, the SQL database, and adjunct server applications
• Load balancing software that dynamically resides on servers making decisions on how to optimally load airplanes and hence user capacity across available satellite beams
• Managing an SQL database with redundancy and high availability; able to share information via GUI for internal users
• Client software on airplanes that communicates with the ground servers to make satellite beam selection decisions and that works with interfacing to the on-board satellite modem and antenna controller hardware
• Working on simulation software for the entire Commercial Aviation fleet
• Define data to be captured in real-time with respect to flights and their effect on GEO capacity utilization and help define utilization of data in next generation applications
• Develop technical leadership across all aspects of the products
• Interface with key development leaders from within SES located in Chicago, IL USA
• Work with the satellite capacity management team, understanding needs and providing associated solutions
• Participate and influence product roadmaps
• Interface with the Systems Engineering & Architecture teams to understand and influence project requirements. 
• Perform technical design reviews, code reviews, unit test, and system test case reviews. 
• Interface with QA to facilitate system testing  

COMPETENCIES

• Strong communication skills including technical documentation, written reports and proposals, development and delivery of presentations and the ability to listen to and communicate effectively with internal customers. 
• Demonstrated ability to lead interfacing to both off- and on-shore personnel. 
• Demonstrated ability to work autonomously, yet cooperatively in a dynamic, matrixed environment. 
• Experience with Continuous Integration 

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE

1. Must Have

• Master’s or bachelor’s degree in computer science, electrical engineering or related technology – advanced degree preferred. 
• A minimum of 8-11 years of relevant experience in the telecommunications and/or networking industry preferred. 
• Hands-on experience of software development in Embedded Linux and Server Based Linux and providing technical leadership in software teams.  
• Strong programming and debugging skills using either Java, C++, or Python. 
• Strong knowledge of IP networking protocols and technologies 
• Expertise in Unix/Linux scripting languages such as bash, python, make, perl, etc.
• Experience with database and web technologies such as MariaDB, MySQL or similar Linux-based database and ODBC experience

2. Nice to Have

• GIS experience knowledgeable in geospatial calculations and presentation 
• Google Earth KML language experience for graphical information display 
• Satellite modem hardware or firmware experience
• Gilat satellite infrastructure system configuration or performance experience
• Satellite simulation experience
• Knowledge of satellite industry data file format standards (e.g. EIRP and G/T GXTs)
• Linux kernel development or server administration 
• Experience with creating and validating user interfaces