About Photon-IV

Photon-IV is a Canadian space and defence technology company based in the Waterloo Region. We build AI-driven software that predicts when satellite and terrestrial networks will fail to hand off, and reroutes around it before the link drops. The product ships as standards-native software that operators deploy inside the infrastructure they already run.

We are funded through federal research programs, work with Canadian and international partners across telecom, space, and defence, and are a small enough team that everyone here owns something end to end.

The role

You will own the satellite side of our prediction stack: the software that turns live orbital data into a real-time picture of what every visible satellite link is about to do, running at the edge under a hard latency budget.

This is a build role. You will take the subsystem from its current state to something validated against real satellite observations in the field, and you will be the person accountable for whether the numbers hold up.

What you will do

- Design and build the orbital data pipeline: ingest, propagation, and real-time computation of per-satellite link geometry
- Take the system from lab conditions to live field validation, including hands-on work with deployed terminals and test equipment
- Work directly with our ML and RF leads so the outputs of your subsystem feed cleanly into model training and link budget analysis
- Own performance: this runs on edge hardware, continuously, for thousands of satellites




- Validate your own work against independent references and report the error honestly

What we are looking for
- 5+ years of skilled software engineering experience in satellite systems, space ground segment, wireless infrastructure, or a comparable domain
- Working knowledge of orbital mechanics as it appears in code: propagation, coordinate frames, pass prediction, link geometry
- Strong Python, with the judgement to reach for a compiled language when performance demands it
- Experience with real-time or near-real-time systems where you were accountable for a latency budget
- A track record of building things that run unattended for long periods without silently degrading
- Comfort in a small team, close to customers, without layers of process

Helpful but not required: 3GPP non-terrestrial network standards, RF link budget fundamentals, edge deployment on embedded GPU hardware, prior delivery under a government contract.

Eligibility

You must be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, currently residing in Canada. Our work runs under Canadian defence and space contracts, which requires eligibility for a Canadian security clearance and for controlled goods work. We cannot make exceptions on this and cannot sponsor visas for this position.

This role is based in the Waterloo Region and involves hands-on field work. It is not remote.

Pay: $70,000.00-$82,000.00 per year

Benefits

- Flexible schedule

Work Location: Hybrid remote in Kitchener-Waterloo, ON

📌 Senior Software Developer (Kitchener)
🏢 Photon-IV
📍 Kitchener