Ground Station System Engineer

We're looking for a hands-on Ground Station Engineer to take full ownership of the maintenance, reliability, and lifecycle of all antenna assets (range, hosted, and proprietary) at Saxa Vord Spaceport. This is a hands-on technical role combining preventative/corrective maintenance, deep troubleshooting (L1–L3), supplier/manufacturer liaison and formalisation of operational procedures to guarantee mission readiness for launches.

About the Role

In this position, you will be responsible for the end‑to‑end performance of all antenna systems. Your work will include routine and corrective maintenance, advanced technical diagnostics, managing vendor relationships, and ensuring all operational practices are clearly documented and consistently followed. Your expertise will be critical in achieving high system availability and supporting successful launch operations.

The position will be based in Granton-on-Spey, with regular travel to Unst.

Responsibilities

As a Ground Station System Engineer, your core responsibilities will include:

• Operating, managing, and conducting preventative and corrective maintenance on antenna systems, ACUs, modems, spectrum analysers, radomes, and associated auxiliary equipment.
• Planning and coordinating maintenance activities with internal stakeholders, launch clients, ground station operators, hosted parties, and manufacturers.
• Leading on-site troubleshooting and fault resolution for fibre, RF links, and rack/cabinet equipment to minimise downtime through decisive technical action.
• Acting as the primary technical point of contact for manufacturers, suppliers, and launch clients, managing ticketing, spares, and repair workflows.
• Maintaining, updating, and implementing installation, maintenance, and safety documentation, as well as providing post-maintenance reporting.
• Supporting hardware procurement decisions and contributing technical input to scheduling and software development projects.

Qualifications

• Degree in engineering (aerospace, electrical, RF, telecom, or similar).
• 5+ years’ experience working with ground stations, antennas, or RF system operations.
• Strong RF knowledge: link budgets, EIRP, polarization, antenna patterns, performance metrics.
• Demonstrated L1–L3 troubleshooting across RF, fibre, and baseband systems.
• Experience working with vendors and handling on-site repair campaigns.
• Comfortable working in regulated environments; understanding of compliance.
• Strong organisational skills, clear communicator—both written and verbal.
• Willing and able to travel internationally.
• Fluent English (extra EU language is a bonus).