Datalink Integration & Test Engineer – Communications / MANET (all genders)

<br><strong>About Us</strong><p><p style="border:0px solid rgb(229,231,235);margin:0pt 0px;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-weight:400;text-transform:none;font-family:Roboto, sans-serif, Inter, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;color:rgb(66,66,66);background-color:rgb(255,255,255);line-height:1.38;"><span style="border:0px solid rgb(229,231,235);margin:0px;font-family:Arial, sans-serif;font-size:11pt;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;">STARK is a new kind of defence technology company revolutionizing the way autonomous systems are deployed across multiple domains. We design, develop, and manufacture high-performance unmanned systems that are software-defined, mass-scalable, and cost-effective. This provides our operators with a decisive edge in highly contested environments.</span></p><br><p style="border:0px solid rgb(229,231,235);margin:0pt 0px;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-weight:400;text-transform:none;font-family:Roboto, sans-serif, Inter, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;color:rgb(66,66,66);background-color:rgb(255,255,255);line-height:1.38;"><span style="border:0px solid rgb(229,231,235);margin:0px;font-family:Arial, sans-serif;font-size:11pt;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;">We’re focused on delivering deployable, high-performance systems—not future promises. In a time of rising threats, STARK is bolstering the technological edge of NATO Allies and their Partners to deter aggression and defend Europe—today.</span></p></p><br><strong>About the team</strong><p><p style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:12pt;margin-bottom:12pt;"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial, sans-serif;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;">As a Datalink Integration &amp; Test Engineer , you will play a key role in bringing together complex software systems that power our next generation of autonomous platforms. </span></p></p><br><strong>Your mission</strong><p><p style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:inherit;font-style:normal;font-weight:400;text-transform:none;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0);color:rgb(0,0,0);">Your mission is to take established, proven MANET (mobile ad-hoc network) radio systems and make them work — reliably, repeatably, and under real-world constraints — inside our unmanned platforms. In this role you focus on the datalinks for our close- and short-range loitering effector and ISR systems, where the link has to stay solid through fast-moving, time-critical mission profiles in contested airspace. You own the path from "commercial radio in a box" to "integrated, tested, mission-ready datalink."</p><p style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:inherit;font-style:normal;font-weight:400;text-transform:none;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0);color:rgb(0,0,0);">This is a hands-on integration and test role at the boundary of RF hardware, networking, and platform architecture. You own two connections that have to hold up when it counts: the command-and-control link between UAV and ground control station (GCS), and the mesh that lets multiple effectors operate as a coordinated swarm. You aren't just wiring in a radio; you are certifying that command and control survives contact with the real world, and giving the engineering team the hard data to trust it.</p></p><br><strong>Responsibilities</strong><p>Integration<ul style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:inherit;font-style:normal;font-weight:400;text-transform:none;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0);color:rgb(0,0,0);"><li style="margin-left:15px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0);color:rgb(0,0,0);">Integrate established MANET / mesh radio systems (e.g., Silvus StreamCaster, Persistent Systems Wave Relay, Rajant, Radionor) into STARK's platform architecture across the mechanical, power, RF, and network/software interfaces.</li><li style="margin-left:15px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0);color:rgb(0,0,0);">Define and implement the integration approach for each datalink — antenna placement, RF front-end, IP networking, and interfacing with the autopilot and payload stack.</li><li style="margin-left:15px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0);color:rgb(0,0,0);">Integrate and configure the UAV-to-GCS command-and-control link, ensuring reliable telemetry, control, and video across the full mission profile through to the terminal phase.</li><li style="margin-left:15px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0);color:rgb(0,0,0);">Set up and tune multi-node mesh topologies that enable UAV-to-UAV connectivity and coordinated swarm operation of multiple effectors, including relay and self-healing behaviour.</li><li style="margin-left:15px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0);color:rgb(0,0,0);">Work closely with hardware, autopilot, and systems engineering to ensure the communication subsystem is correctly matched to the platform and its constraints.</li></ul>Test &amp; Validation<ul style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:inherit;font-style:normal;font-weight:400;text-transform:none;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0);color:rgb(0,0,0);"><li style="margin-left:15px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0);color:rgb(0,0,0);">Design and execute structured test campaigns — bench, hardware-in-the-loop, and field trials — to validate datalink behaviour.</li><li style="margin-left:15px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0);color:rgb(0,0,0);">Characterise link performance across throughput, latency, range, mesh routing behaviour, and resilience under interference and degraded conditions.</li><li style="margin-left:15px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0);color:rgb(0,0,0);">Validate swarm behaviour at the network level — multi-node mesh scaling, UAV-to-UAV and UAV-to-GCS connectivity, relay hops, and graceful degradation as nodes join, move, or drop out.</li><li style="margin-left:15px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0);color:rgb(0,0,0);">Build up repeatable test procedures and instrumentation, and produce clear, traceable documentation of setups, methods, and results.</li></ul>Collaboration &amp; Continuous Improvement<ul style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:inherit;font-style:normal;font-weight:400;text-transform:none;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0);color:rgb(0,0,0);"><li style="margin-left:15px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0);color:rgb(0,0,0);">Translate field and test findings into concrete integration and configuration improvements.</li><li style="margin-left:15px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0);color:rgb(0,0,0);">Support trade-offs and selection decisions between candidate datalink systems with measured, defensible data.</li><li style="margin-left:15px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0);color:rgb(0,0,0);">Contribute to the evolution of STARK's communication integration standards and test methodology.</li></ul></p><br><strong>Qualifications</strong><p>Experience &amp; Certifications<ul style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:inherit;font-style:normal;font-weight:400;text-transform:none;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0);color:rgb(0,0,0);"><li style="margin-left:15px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0);color:rgb(0,0,0);">Professional background in Electronics / Communications Engineering or a comparable technical field.</li><li style="margin-left:15px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0);color:rgb(0,0,0);">Hands-on experience integrating MANET / mesh radio or tactical datalink systems into a larger platform or system.</li><li style="margin-left:15px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0);color:rgb(0,0,0);">Practical test and measurement experience (spectrum analysers, RF link testing, network diagnostics).</li><li style="margin-left:15px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0);color:rgb(0,0,0);">Must be a citizen of a NATO member state (due to export control and security regulations).</li></ul>Technical Background<ul style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:inherit;font-style:normal;font-weight:400;text-transform:none;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0);color:rgb(0,0,0);"><li style="margin-left:15px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0);color:rgb(0,0,0);">Solid grounding in RF fundamentals and antenna/propagation basics.</li><li style="margin-left:15px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0);color:rgb(0,0,0);">Strong understanding of IP networking, routing, and the OSI model as it applies to mesh and point-to-point links.</li><li style="margin-left:15px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0);color:rgb(0,0,0);">Comfortable working in Linux networking environments and debugging at the hardware/software boundary.</li><li style="margin-left:15px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0);color:rgb(0,0,0);">Structured, disciplined approach to test design, execution, and documentation.</li></ul>Profile<ul style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:inherit;font-style:normal;font-weight:400;text-transform:none;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0);color:rgb(0,0,0);"><li style="margin-left:15px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0);color:rgb(0,0,0);">Strong written and verbal communication skills in English.</li><li style="margin-left:15px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0);color:rgb(0,0,0);">Analytical, thorough, and outcome-oriented — you want the integration to be clean and the results to hold up, not just to work once.</li></ul></p><br><strong>Nice to have</strong><p><ul><li style="margin-left:15px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0);color:rgb(0,0,0);">Hands-on experience with specific MANET vendor ecosystems and their management/config tooling.</li><li style="margin-left:15px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0);color:rgb(0,0,0);">Knowledge of tactical datalink bands, waveforms, FHSS, and encryption.</li><li style="margin-left:15px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0);color:rgb(0,0,0);">Familiarity with military communication standards and secure over-the-air transmission.</li><li style="margin-left:15px;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0);color:rgb(0,0,0);">Scripting / embedded experience (Python, C++) for test automation and instrumentation.</li></ul><br><br>​For more ​details please reach out to<br>Sally Grütte-Pad, Interim Lead TA Partner via ----- style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial, sans-serif;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;"><br></span></p><p>Find more <a href="https://www.arbeitnow.com/english-speaking-jobs">English Speaking Jobs in Germany</a> on Arbeitnow</a>