Senior Payload Data Processing Engineer

About the role

FADA is looking for a senior engineer to design, develop, and operate end‑to‑end processing chains that turn raw satellite payload data into calibrated, analysis‑ready products. The role spans the full downstream workflow from Level‑0 ingestion to Level‑2 generation for both optical and radar sensors.

Key responsibilities

• Define EO product specifications with end users, mission engineers and stakeholders.
• Translate mission requirements into processing specifications, product formats and metadata standards.
• Act as the technical interface between payload processing, satellite operations and system engineering teams.
• Design, develop and maintain pipelines for raw data ingestion, Level‑0, Level‑1 and Level‑2 products.
• Implement optical image processing algorithms such as registration, georeferencing, orthorectification, radiometric and atmospheric correction, cloud masking and classification.
• Integrate workflows into scalable, automated systems with defined throughput and latency targets.
• Support multi‑payload, multi‑sensor operations across different platforms.
• Continuously improve processing chains by evaluating new algorithms, tools and techniques.
• Contribute to payload characterization, calibration and validation activities.
• Lead investigations of data chain anomalies and drive issue resolution.
• Provide technical guidance to junior engineers and represent FADA with suppliers and partners.

Required profile

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Electrical Engineering, Remote Sensing, Geomatics, Aerospace Engineering or a related discipline.
• 5‑8 years of experience in satellite payload data processing, with responsibility for processing chains, algorithms or product lines.
• Hands‑on experience with both EO and SAR payloads, including calibration, correction and product generation.
• Proven ability to develop, validate, commission and operate payload data processing systems.

Required skills

• Electro‑Optical (EO) payload processing
• Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) processing
• Optical image registration, georeferencing and orthorectification
• Radiometric and atmospheric correction
• Cloud masking and image classification
• Geospatial data formats and standards (GeoTIFF, STAC, OGC services)
• Design and maintenance of payload data processing pipelines
• Strong knowledge of remote sensing principles