Engineer, Network Software, SDN Control & Management Plane, 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 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. In addition, as well as to governmental users, private companies and European citizens while benefiting from ensuring high-speed internet broadband to cope with connectivity dead zones.

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

The IRIS2 team enters next project phases, we seek and there is a strong need of support for all the activities around service provisioning and products that the system can offer in the future.

ROLE DESCRIPTION SUMMARY

We are seeking Network Software Engineers, SDN Control & Management Plane, to design and develop software for the control and management planes of a next-generation multi-orbit satellite communications network. This role focuses on building reliable, scalable, secure, and observable software services that support routing control, topology management, service provisioning, telemetry, automation, orchestration, and integration with simulation and validation environments. The position is ideal for software engineers who understand networking deeply and want to build production-quality systems for dynamic space-based connectivity.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES / KEY RESULT AREAS

• Design, implement, test, and maintain software components for SDN control-plane and management-plane capabilities.


• Build services, APIs, automation tools, data pipelines, and integration layers supporting routing, topology management, provisioning, telemetry, and operations.


• Collaborate with architects and network engineers to translate specifications into maintainable software designs and implementation plans.


• Develop distributed software components that are resilient, observable, secure, and suitable for deployment in cloud-native or virtualized environments.


• Integrate software with SDN controllers, orchestration systems, network management interfaces, simulation environments, validation testbeds, and network infrastructure.


• Implement automated tests, CI/CD workflows, code quality practices, logging, metrics, and operational diagnostics.


• Support performance profiling, scalability testing, fault handling, and troubleshooting of network software components.


• Contribute to technical documentation, design reviews, interface definitions, and production readiness activities.

Qualifications Background and Experience

• B.S., M.S., or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Telecommunications, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.


• Strong software engineering skills in Python, Go, C/C++, Rust, Java, or similar languages used for networked, distributed, and infrastructure systems.


• Experience developing reliable services, APIs, automation tooling, or platform components in Linux-based environments.


• Solid understanding of IP networking, routing, SDN concepts, network management, telemetry, orchestration, distributed systems, and performance troubleshooting.


• Experience with containers, Kubernetes, microservices, message buses, databases, CI/CD, observability tooling, and secure software development practices.


• Familiarity with YANG, NETCONF, RESTCONF, gNMI, P4Runtime, OpenConfig, or other network control and management interfaces is valuable.


• Ability to work closely with network architects, validation engineers, hardware engineers, and programme stakeholders.


• Experience in telecom, satellite communications, cloud networking, or mission-critical software environments is highly valuable.

OTHER KEY REQUIREMENTS / COMMENTS

• The candidate must be eligible for a “SECRET” security clearance, in accordance with the national regulations as well as EU/ESA/NATO equivalents

• Willing to work 60% onsite from office


• Travel as required for project realization purposes