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

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.

Were focused on delivering deployable high-performance systemsnot future a time of rising threats STARK is bolstering the technological edge of NATO Allies and their Partners to deter aggression and defend Europetoday.

As a Datalink Integration & Test Engineer you will play a key role in bringing together complex software systems that power our next generation of autonomous platforms.

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 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.

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 arent 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.

• Integrate established MANET / mesh radio systems (e.g. Silvus StreamCaster Persistent Systems Wave Relay Rajant Radionor) into STARKs platform architecture across the mechanical power RF and network/software interfaces.
• Define and implement the integration approach for each datalink antenna placement RF front-end IP networking and interfacing with the autopilot and payload stack.
• 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.
• 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.
• Work closely with hardware autopilot and systems engineering to ensure the communication subsystem is correctly matched to the platform and its constraints.

• Design and execute structured test campaigns bench hardware-in-the-loop and field trials to validate datalink behaviour.
• Characterise link performance across throughput latency range mesh routing behaviour and resilience under interference and degraded conditions.
• 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.
• Build up repeatable test procedures and instrumentation and produce clear traceable documentation of setups methods and results.

• Translate field and test findings into concrete integration and configuration improvements.
• Support trade-offs and selection decisions between candidate datalink systems with measured defensible data.
• Contribute to the evolution of STARKs communication integration standards and test methodology.

• Professional background in Electronics / Communications Engineering or a comparable technical field.
• Hands-on experience integrating MANET / mesh radio or tactical datalink systems into a larger platform or system.
• Practical test and measurement experience (spectrum analysers RF link testing network diagnostics).
• Must be a citizen of a NATO member state (due to export control and security regulations).

• Solid grounding in RF fundamentals and antenna/propagation basics.
• Strong understanding of IP networking routing and the OSI model as it applies to mesh and point-to-point links.
• Comfortable working in Linux networking environments and debugging at the hardware/software boundary.
• Structured disciplined approach to test design execution and documentation.

• Strong written and verbal communication skills in English.
• Analytical thorough and outcome-oriented you want the integration to be clean and the results to hold up not just to work once.

• Hands-on experience with specific MANET vendor ecosystems and their management/config tooling.
• Knowledge of tactical datalink bands waveforms FHSS and encryption.
• Familiarity with military communication standards and secure over-the-air transmission.
• Scripting / embedded experience (Python C) for test automation and instrumentation.