Senior Digital Comms Payload Engineer

Aim high, go beyond!

At Open Cosmos we are solving the world’s biggest challenges from space, providing businesses, governments and researchers access to more readily available information than ever before - ready for the challenge? Then read on…

The Satcom team is responsible for the design, delivery and performance of Open Cosmos’ satellite communications services, spanning the space segment, ground infrastructure and global connectivity.

Joining our Satcom Solutions team, you’ll play a key role in developing the digital core of our communication payloads, ensuring performance, scalability, and resilience across complex satellite systems.

What will you be doing?

• Defining digital subsystem architectures across satellite payload and ground communication systems

• Translating high-level product and system requirements into scalable digital processing capabilities

• Collaborating across payload, network, air interface, and security domains to deliver cohesive digital designs

• Supporting future waveform and communication standard evolution including DVB-S2X and 3GPP NTN

• Assessing emerging FPGA, ASIC, SoC, and chiplet technologies for suitability within space-grade environments

• Leading Digital-in-the-Loop (DIL) modelling and prototyping activities to validate performance, latency, and power targets

• Deriving compute resource requirements including throughput, memory bandwidth, LUT utilisation, and DSP allocation

• Defining and governing high-speed digital interfaces including JESD204, SpaceWire, and high-speed Ethernet

• Supporting the integration of secure hardware capabilities including encryption, secure boot, and resilience mechanisms

• Translating architectural concepts into actionable specifications and interface control documentation for implementation teams

• Providing technical oversight across firmware and hardware development activities to ensure alignment with system intent

What You’ll bring

• Strong understanding of digital system architecture and high-performance processing within communication systems

• Capability to define and integrate complex digital subsystems across space and ground environments

• Knowledge of FPGA, ASIC, SoC, and emerging silicon technologies used within advanced processing systems

• Understanding of digital signal processing concepts and their application within satellite communications

• Familiarity with Software Defined Radio (SDR) architectures and regenerative payload concepts

• Ability to translate system requirements into compute resource and hardware utilisation needs

• Knowledge of high-speed digital interfaces including JESD204, SpaceWire, and Ethernet

• Understanding of signal integrity, synchronisation, and high-speed data transfer considerations

• Awareness of how digital processing impacts RF system performance including beamforming and pre-distortion techniques

• Proficiency in modelling and simulation using MATLAB, Simulink, or Python for system-level validation

• Understanding of hardware resilience and secure design principles within high-reliability or space-grade environments

• A systems-thinking mindset with a structured and analytical approach to performance, scalability, and technical trade-offs

This role will be based in any of our locations.

Why Open Cosmos?

• Work at the cutting edge of space technology with customers around the globe

• A mission-driven company making space accessible to help solve real-world challenges

• A diverse, ambitious, and supportive team