Tactical Data Link Expert (All Genders)

At Stark, we forge the future of European and national security through cutting-edge, AI-driven technology and unmatched engineering precision. As a premier defence technology company, our mission is clear: to equip NATO Allies and their partners  with next-generation autonomous defence platforms and advanced AI-driven software built to perform in the world’s most demanding environments.

We believe that true security stems from relentless innovation. By combining elite engineering talent with agile technology and an AI-native operational culture, Stark turns complex defence challenges into field-tested, multi-domain solutions.

WHY JOIN US

• The software and systems you work on directly protect personnel and defend European and national sovereignty.
• You will work alongside industry-leading minds on autonomous systems, advanced propulsion, and secure cyber platforms.
• We foster a fast-paced, collaborative environment where bold ideas are supported by serious R&D backing.

About the Team

Minerva is STARK's command and control software — the brain that connects operators to autonomous systems across multiple domains in real time. The Minerva team is a small, senior software group based in Berlin and Munich, working directly with our systems and hardware teams to build mission-critical C2 capabilities deployed in active operational environments.
We move fast, ship real software, and operate under constraints most engineers never encounter — low-bandwidth networks, air-gapped devices, high-stakes decision loops. There is no room for abstraction for its own sake. Everything we build ends up in the hands of real operators in the field.

Your Mission

Support the development, integration, testing, and operational use of tactical data link capabilities for STARK’s unmanned systems, Ground Control Stations, and wider command-and-control environments. You will help ensure that our systems can communicate reliably and securely with military networks, command posts, allied platforms, and mission systems. A key part of the role is to evaluate, understand, and integrate tactical communication standards and technologies such as Link 16, Link 22, SATCOM, and other military data link solutions. You will translate operational communication requirements into practical integration concepts, test setups, and deployable system configurations.

Responsibilities

 

• Tactical Data Link Integration: Support the integration of tactical data link capabilities such as Link 16, Link 22, SATCOM, and other military communication systems into STARK platforms and Ground Control Station environments.
• Interoperability Concepts: Define and support communication concepts that enable reliable data exchange between unmanned systems, GCS setups, command centers, allied platforms, and external mission systems.
• Requirements Translation: Translate operational and military communication requirements into technical integration requirements, interface definitions, test needs, and subsystem-level implementation concepts.
• System Interface Support: Work with engineering, software, network, RF, modem, antenna, and GCS teams to align interfaces, protocols, data flows, configuration requirements, and integration constraints.
• SATCOM & Beyond-Line-of-Sight Support: Support concepts and integration activities for SATCOM, long-range communication paths, and other beyond-line-of-sight connectivity options.
• Testing & Validation: Plan and support lab tests, field tests, interoperability checks, and validation activities for tactical data link and communication setups.
• Security & Reliability: Contribute to secure, robust, and mission-ready communication architectures, considering availability, latency, data integrity, authentication, and operational constraints.
• Supplier & Partner Coordination: Work with external suppliers, partners, military stakeholders, and internal teams to assess data link options, integration dependencies, and technical feasibility.
• Documentation: Document data link concepts, interface assumptions, configuration settings, integration dependencies, test results, and recommended operational setups in a clear and maintainable way.

 

Required Skills

 

• Experience: Around 5 years of professional experience in tactical communications, military data links, SATCOM, RF systems, communication engineering, systems engineering, or a related technical field.
• Tactical Data Link Knowledge: Practical understanding of military data link technologies such as Link 16, Link 22, SATCOM, or comparable tactical communication systems.
• Systems Understanding: Ability to understand complex communication architectures involving platforms, radios, antennas, modems, networks, command systems, software interfaces, and operational workflows.
• Interoperability Mindset: Strong understanding of how different systems exchange data, how interfaces are defined, and how interoperability is tested and validated.
• Technical Communication: Ability to translate between operational users, engineering teams, software developers, RF specialists, suppliers, and program stakeholders.
• Testing & Documentation: Experience supporting technical tests, integration trials, validation activities, or operational demonstrations, including structured documentation of results and findings.
• Problem-Solving Ability: Strong analytical mindset with the ability to identify communication issues, integration gaps, configuration problems, and practical solutions.
• Communication: Solid English skills are required. German skills for technical communication, stakeholder alignment, and documentation are a plus.
• Team Fit: Ability to work collaboratively in a small, cross-functional team and communicate clearly and reliably in fast-moving engineering environments.
• Clearance: Ability to obtain appropriate security clearance required for the position.

 

Nice-To-Have

 

• Experience in defence, military communications, command-and-control systems, aerospace, naval systems, UAVs, or other mission-critical operational environments.
• · Prior exposure to NATO communication standards, tactical networks, joint fires, air defence, command posts, or battlefield management systems.
• · Experience with SATCOM terminals, tactical radios, MANET, IP-based tactical networks, or professional communication equipment.
• · Experience integrating unmanned systems into wider military communication architectures.
• · Understanding of network security, encryption concepts, authentication, routing, IP networking, and secure data exchange.

 

If you're interested in building the future of European Defence with us, and you see yourself reflected on the description above, please send us your CV in English. We're looking forward to meeting you!

 

SECURITY CLEARANCE

Due to the nature of our work in the defence sector, candidates must be eligible to obtain and maintain the appropriate security clearance required for this position. Details will be provided during the recruitment process.

 

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY

We are an equal-opportunity employer committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, colour, religion, sex, national origin, disability, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

 

DATA PRIVACY STATEMENT

This data privacy statement, which refers exclusively to data collected as part of the online application process, is to inform you about how your personal data that is collected as part of the online application process is handled at our end.

The controller

The controller under data protection law is:

SKD SE

Französische Strasse 12, 10117 Berlin

Commercial register entry number: HRB 260878

Registration Court: Amtsgericht Charlottenburg

Data Protection officer: heyData GmbH, Schützenstraße 5, 10117 Berlin, www.heydata.eu, datenschutz@heydata.eu

Personal data collected as part of the application process

Personal data means any information concerning the personal or material circumstances of an identified or identifiable individual. This includes information such as, for example, your name, address, telephone number and date of birth, but also data relating to your specific career etc. by reference to which a specific individual can be identified with reasonable effort. However, information which cannot be (in)directly associated with your real-life identity is not personal data.

Fundamentals and purposes of processing personal data collected from application documents and during the application process

If you apply to us electronically, i.e. via e-mail or using our online form, we will collect and process your personal data for the purpose of executing the application process and preparing contracts.

By submitting an application via our recruitment website, you express your interest in taking up work with us. In this context, you transmit personal data, which we will use and store exclusively for the purpose of your job search / application process.

In particular, the following data is collected during this process:

• name (first and last names)
• e-mail address
• phone number
• LinkedIn profile (optional)
• channel through which you found us

Furthermore, you can choose to upload expressive documents such as a cover letter, your CV and reference letters. These may contain additional personal data such as date of birth, address etc.

Only authorized HR staff and/or staff involved in the application process have access to your data.

The personal data is stored, as a rule, exclusively for the purpose of filling the vacancy for which you have applied.

Your data will be stored for a period of 180 days after the application process has been concluded. This is usually done to fulfill legal requirements and/or defending ourselves against any claims arising from legal provisions. After this period, we are obligated to delete or anonymize your data. In case of anonymization, the data will only be available to us in the form of so-called metadata, without any direct personal reference, for statistical analysis (for example, share of male and/or female applicants, number of applications per specified period of time etc.).

Furthermore, we reserve the right to store your data for 180 days after the application process has been concluded for the purpose of adding it to our Talent Pool in order to identify any other vacancies that may be of interest to you. This includes, for example, applications for apprenticeships or internships. By accepting the data privacy statement, you consent to any further storage of your data as well as its inclusion in our Talent Pool.

Should you be offered and accept a position with us during the application process, we will store the personal data collected as part of the application process for at least the duration of your employment.

Disclosure of data to third parties

Data transmitted as part of your application will be transferred using TLS encryption and stored in a database. This database is operated by Greenhouse, which offers a human resource and applicant management software solution (https://www.greenhouse.com/data-processing-addendum). In this context, Greenhouse is our processor under article 28 of the GDPR. In this case, the processing is based on an agreement for the processing of orders between us as the controller and Greenhouse.

Rights of data subjects

If we as the controller process personal data, you as the data subject have certain rights under Chapter III of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), depending on the legal basis and the purpose of the processing, in particular the right of access (article 15 of the GDPR) and the rights to rectification (article 16 of the GDPR), erasure (article 17 of the GDPR), restriction of processing (article 18 of the GDPR), and data portability (article 20 of the GDPR), as well as the right to object (article 21 of the GDPR). If the personal data is processed with your consent, you have the right to withdraw this consent under article 7 III of the GDPR.

To assert your rights as a data subject in relation to the data processed during this online application process, please refer to our Data Protection Officer (see item 2).

Concluding provisions

We reserve the right to adjust this data privacy statement at any point in time to ensure that it is in line with the current legal requirements at all times, or in order to accommodate changes in the application process or other processes. In this case, the new data privacy statement applies to any later visit of this recruitment website or any later job application.

LEGAL NOTICE

1. Information according to § 5 DDG

SKD SE
Französische Str. 12
10117 Berlin

Internet: www.stark-defence.com
E-Mail: contact@stark-defence.com

SKD SE, Berlin (registered office of the company), is a Societas Europaea (legal form for joint stock companies), registered at the district court of Berlin (Charlottenburg) under the register number: HRB 260878 B, represented by the Executive Board: Uwe Horstmann, Dr. André Schneider, Johannes Schaback, Jan-Patrick Helmsen, Martin Rost.

Chairman of the Supervisory Board is Mr. Robert Maier.

VAT ID No.: DE369778559

2. Liability

We are responsible for the content of our website in accordance with the provisions of general law. All content is created with the necessary care and to the best of our knowledge and is for information purposes only. Insofar as we refer on our Internet pages to the Internet pages of third parties by means of hyperlinks, we cannot accept any liability for guarantee that the linked content is always up to date, correct and complete, as this content is outside our responsibility and we have no influence on its future design. If, in your opinion, content violates applicable law or is inappropriate, please let us know. The legal information on this page as well as all questions and disputes in connection with the design of this website are subject to the law of the Federal Republic of Germany.

3. Data Protection

You can find our data protection information here. There you will also find the contact details of our data protection officer.

4. Copyright Information

The texts, images, photos, videos and graphics on our website are generally protected by copyright. Any unauthorized use (in particular the reproduction, editing or distribution) of this copyright-protected content is therefore prohibited. If you intend to use this content or parts thereof, please contact us in advance using the details above. If we are not ourselves the owner of the required copyright usage rights, we will endeavor to arrange contact with the entitled party.