Job Description

A multinational defence programme buys commercial satellite imagery and feeds it into operational systems, so that analysts see what is happening on the ground sooner. The tool that requests, tracks and delivers that imagery needs an engineer who will own it: integrate new data sources, keep the map interface useful, and find the reason when a feed slows down.

This is a remote post. You will work with a small technical team, join their reviews by video, and be measured on what you deliver rather than on where you sit.

What you would be doing

• Integrating commercial imagery providers into the collection tool — the request protocols, the data formats and the delivery paths that each provider brings with it.
• Taking user requests for the map interface, working out what they really need, and implementing the changes.
• Investigating data flow bottlenecks and technical faults in a live production environment, and fixing them rather than routing them onward.
• Working with planners and analysts to turn operational needs into concrete requirements.
• Keeping the documentation for the tool current — status, known issues, collection metrics and the recommendations that come out of them.
• Reporting on how the tool is performing: availability, job success rates, what changed since the last period and what should be done about it.

What you would bring

• A working understanding of space-based intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, and of what current satellite capabilities can and cannot do.
• Five years or more of multi-mission planning using orbit and sensor modelling.
• Hands-on experience building and running satellite collection tooling for national or multinational customers.
• Real proficiency with GIS and web mapping libraries.
• Experience with the protocols used to integrate several commercial imagery providers into one collection capability.
• Excellent spoken and written English, demonstrated in recent work — you will be writing the reports that go to the customer.
• The self-direction to work alone without supervision, and the temperament to work well inside a team when the work is shared.
• Strong research and analytical habits, and a genuine appetite for problem solving.

Experience of defence or military intelligence processes is welcome and will help you settle in quickly, but the engineering and the imagery domain matter most.