Engineer, Satellite SDN Control 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 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, 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 the European Commission to build and operate the IRIS² multi-orbit satellite constellation.

The IRIS² team is entering the next project phase, creating a strong need for support across the activities related to service provisioning and the products the system can offer in the future.

ROLE DESCRIPTION SUMMARY

We are seeking a Satellite SDN Control Plane Engineer to define, dimension, specify, and prototype the control and management plane capabilities required for a dynamic multi-orbit satellite network. This role focuses on SDN control-plane engineering, network management architecture, topology awareness, telemetry, orchestration, automation, and the interfaces needed to operate routing and service capabilities across space and ground segments. The position is ideal for an Engineer who combines deep networking knowledge with hands-on experience in distributed control systems, network automation, and operationally resilient architectures.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES / KEY RESULT AREAS

- Define SDN control-plane and management-plane requirements for IRIS² and related MEO programme network capabilities.

- Design SDN-based control architectures for dynamic topology awareness, path computation, policy enforcement, and service lifecycle management.

- Develop specifications for network management, telemetry, configuration, fault handling, intent/policy workflows, and operational interfaces.

- Dimension control-plane functions for scale, latency, availability, synchronization, and resilience across space and ground infrastructure.

- Prototype control-plane workflows for routing updates, service provisioning, failure handling, network reconfiguration, and closed-loop optimization.

- Specify and evaluate management APIs, data models, SDN controller interfaces, orchestration interfaces, and integration points with data-plane and platform systems.

- Work with simulation, software, validation, and architecture teams to verify control-plane behavior under nominal and degraded scenarios.

- Support the transition of experimental control-plane concepts into production-ready management and orchestration platforms.

QUALIFICATIONS, EXPERIENCE & COMPETENCIES

• Degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Telecommunications, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.


• 5+ years of relevant industry experience


• Strong experience with software-defined networking, network management systems, routing control planes, or distributed orchestration systems.


• Solid understanding of routing protocols, path computation, traffic engineering, topology discovery, and network resilience mechanisms.


• Familiarity with network automation and management technologies such as YANG, NETCONF, RESTCONF, gNMI, OpenConfig, streaming telemetry, or similar approaches.


• Experience with Linux networking, containerized services, Kubernetes, virtualized network functions, and cloud-native operational models.


• Programming skills in Python, Go, C/C++, Rust, or similar languages used for network automation and systems engineering.


• Ability to write clear technical specifications, interface definitions, design documents, and validation criteria.


• Experience with performance analysis, fault injection, lab testing, or simulation of distributed network control systems 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

SES and its Affiliated Companies are committed to hiring and retaining a diverse workforce. We are an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer and will consider all qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, pregnancy, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, genetic information, protected veteran status, disability, or any other basis protected by local, state, or federal law.