SATCOM Engineer

Spektrum have a wide range of exciting opportunities in several global locations.  We are always looking to add great new talent to our team and look forward to hearing from you.

Spektrum supports apex purchasers (NATO, UN, EU, and National Government and Defence) and their Tier 1 supplier ecosystem with a wide range of specialist services. We provide our clients with professional services, specialised aerospace and defence sales, delivery, and operational subject matter expertise. We are looking for personnel to join our team and support key client projects.

Who we are supporting  

The NATO Communication and Information Agency (NCIA) is responsible for providing secure and effective communications and information technology (IT) services to NATO's member countries and its partners. The agency was established in 2012 and is headquartered in Brussels, Belgium.

The NCIA provides a wide range of services, including:

• Cyber Security: The NCIA provides advanced cybersecurity solutions to protect NATO's communication networks and information systems against cyber threats.
• Command and Control Systems: The NCIA develops and maintains the systems used by NATO's military commanders to plan and execute operations.
• Satellite Communications: The NCIA provides satellite communications services to enable secure and reliable communications between NATO forces.
• Electronic Warfare: The NCIA provides electronic warfare services to support NATO's mission to detect, deny, and defeat threats to its communication networks.
• Information Management: The NCIA manages NATO's information technology infrastructure, including its databases, applications, and servers.

Overall, the NCIA plays a critical role in ensuring the security and effectiveness of NATO's communication and information technology capabilities.

The program

Assistance and Advisory Service (AAS)

The NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCI Agency) is NATO’s principal C3 capability deliverer and CIS service provider. It provides, maintains and defends the NATO enterprise-wide information technology infrastructure to enable Allies to consult together under Article IV, and, when required, stand together in the face of attack under Article V.

To provide these critical services, in the modern evolving dynamic environment the NCI Agency needs to build and maintain high performance-engaged workforce. The NCI Agency workforce strategically consists of three major categorise's: NATO International Civilians (NIC)'s, Military (Mil), and Interim Workforce Consultants (IWC)'s. The IWCs are a critical part of the overall NCI Agency workforce and make up approximately 15 percent of the total workforce.

Role ID – 2026-0096

Background

The NATO Integrated Mission Services Centre (NIMSC) is responsible for the coordination, planning, and delivery of engineering and operational support capabilities across Mobile CIS Infrastructure, including Deployable CIS Services (DCIS), Dispersible Systems, Highly Mobile Systems, SATCOM, and Wireless Communications. To ensure the sustained availability, performance, and resilience of these mission critical capabilities, NIMSC requires specialized SATCOM Engineering Support Services aligned with NATO governance, interoperability requirements, service management processes, and operational priorities. Through this Statement of Work (SoW), the NIMSC seeks industry support to deliver SATCOM Engineering Support Services. The Contractor personnel, through the selected personnel, will provide dedicated SATCOM engineering support for SATCOM projects and services, including the development of detailed project proposals, technical assessments, and engineering artefacts supporting NATO communication and space domain capabilities. The support shall ensure alignment with operational requirements, interoperability standards, emerging technologies, and NATO policies, while ensuring that SATCOM capabilities remain operationally effective, secure, resilient, and aligned with NATO standards.

Role Duties and Responsibilities

SATCOM Project Proposal Development

• Review available programme documentation for two Projects (existing architectures, requirements, constraints, site data, baselines, interfaces);
• Confirm scope boundaries, assumptions, dependencies, and out-of-scope items for both projects;
• Produce and maintain a Proposal Development Plan, including schedule, deliverables list, information requests, review gates, and stakeholder map;
• Establish requirement and decision traceability approaches, including requirement IDs, decision logs, risk logs, and configuration management for proposal artefacts;
• Identify applicable interoperability and standardization artefacts, including NATO profiles, SATCOM reference architectures, relevant NATO STANAGs, and NATO interoperability profiles;
• Determine the applicability of the Digital IF Interoperability (DIFI) standard, including profiles and compliance criteria for digital-chain options;
• Collect and analyse as-is IF/RF chain performance data, including gain, noise figure, linearity, group delay, spurious, ripple, phase noise, intermodulation, distortion, and EVM where applicable;
• Assess current anchor site, terminal, and network architectures and interfaces, including timing and synchronization, control and management, cybersecurity boundaries, and spectrum management constraints;
• Identify performance bottlenecks, obsolescence drivers, and operational pain points;
• Document as-is architecture diagrams and interface control summaries, including signals, connectors, protocols, timing, and monitoring/alarming functions;
• Define solution options and identify required ancillary elements for each option;
• Develop and maintain system-level functional requirements;
• Perform feasibility analyses for each option;
• Perform trade-off analyses across performance, resilience, spectrum efficiency, and cost drivers;
• Quantify benefits and impacts for instantaneous switching between anchor sites assumptions, including network connectivity prerequisites, latency budgets, and operational constraints;
• Identify constraints and risks specific to each site (S01–S04), including logistics and operational windows;
• Define modelling approaches and assumptions, including link budget elements, IF chain impairment models, quantization effects for converters, and transport latency/jitter;
• Build or extend models to compare analogue versus digital IF chain performance, including ripple compensation effectiveness versus quantization and latency impacts;
• Provide simulation outputs and interpret results into proposal-ready conclusions, including plots, tables, margins, and sensitivity analyses;
• Define functional and technical requirements for four (4) medium-size dualband (X/Ka) antennas, including performance, pointing, stabilization where relevant, environmental considerations, and interface requirements;
• Assess site readiness per location, including foundations and mounts, clearances, power, grounding, lightning protection, radome requirements, RF cable runs/waveguides, and indoor equipment space;
• Define integration requirements with existing SAC infrastructure, including IF/RF interfaces, BUC/LNB chain assumptions, monitoring and control, and calibration requirements;
• Develop high-level architecture diagrams for both projects, including block diagrams, signal flow, and network interfaces;
• Create and maintain a risk register covering technical, schedule, supply chain, certification/standards, site access, and cyber risks;
• Document assumptions and external dependencies, including network connectivity between anchor sites, timing distribution, and spectrum approvals;
• Define mitigations and contingency options, including alternative suppliers, phased deployment, and fallback modes;
• Provide cost drivers per option, including equipment, installation, engineering, testing, spares, and support;
• Provide level-of-effort estimates by work package and role, including engineering, integration, and testing;
• Provide schedule estimates and key milestones, including design reviews, procurement lead times, and FAT/SAT windows;
• Provide licensing, subscription, and support cost considerations, including recurring cost estimates.

North American SATCOM Anchoring Study

• Create and coordinate high-level requirements;
• Create and coordinate evaluation models;
• Create and coordinate Courses of Action (defined alternatives);
• Create Site Data Package structures;
• Define hard filters (pass/fail gates);
• Create scoring methodologies and coordinate weighting criteria;
• Conduct evidence-based feasibility analyses;
• Develop cost, schedule, and risk assessments;
• Deliver draft study documentation;
• Review and update the study based on stakeholder feedback.

Stakeholder Coordination and Reporting

• Liaise with ACT, ACO, and NCIA technical authorities, providing engineering inputs and consolidated documentation;
• Prepare technical briefings, reports, and data packages supporting NATO capability planning;
• Participate in workshops, technical meetings, and industry engagement events as required.

Essential Skills, Experience and Certifications

• Minimum of three (3) years of practical experience in SATCOM systems, including UHF and SHF domains;
• Deep knowledge of SATCOM architecture principles, including link budget analysis, modulation schemes, error correction coding, and satellite network topologies;
• Strong understanding of RF engineering and antenna systems, including propagation modelling in SATCOM frequency bands;
• Knowledge of SATCOM cybersecurity architecture principles, including encryption and secure communications design;
• Familiarity with SATCOM-related standards such as DVB-S2, DVB-S2X, MIL-STD-188, and experience with Software Defined Networking (SDN) in SATCOM environments;
• Familiarity with modern military communication networks, including interfaces, protocols, and SATCOM operational environments;
• Experience in service management processes (incident, problem management, etc.) and a customer-focused approach in operational or control centre environments.
• Experience in NATO or multinational military environments is strongly desirable;
• Solid understanding of NATO operational standards, procedures, and communication protocols;
• Experience with SATCOM operations, engineering support, or related defence communication systems;
• Strong analytical capability applied to system performance, interoperability, and technical assessment activities;
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to clearly articulate complex technical SATCOM concepts;
• Strong interpersonal skills, enabling effective collaboration with technical teams and stakeholders;
• Ability to work independently with minimal supervision while contributing effectively as part of a team;
• Strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities;
• High level of motivation, adaptability, and collaboration.

Education

• University Degree in Telecommunications, Electronics, SATCOM Engineering, or a rel ated field, with at least two (2) years of post-related experience; or Higher Vocational Training with a minimum of five (5) years of post-related experience;

Language Proficiency

• Business English

Working Location

• Braine l’Alleud, Belgium

Working Policy

• Hybrid (75% of time remote and 25% on-site)

Travel

• Some travel to other NATO sites may be required

Security Clearance

• Valid National or NATO Secret personal security clearance

We never know what new opportunities might be just over the horizon. If this opportunity isn't for you, please feel free to send us your resume anyway and be the first to know if something suitable for your skills and experience comes up.