Senior Staff Core Operations Engineer (L3)

About Skylo

Skylo is a global Non-Terrestrial Network service provider based in Mountain View, CA, offering a service that allows smartphone and IoT cellular devices to connect directly over existing satellites. Skylo’s direct-to-device service is now live on millions of activated devices across five continents, with more than 60 million square kilometers of coverage, in partnership with multiple satellite operators, mobile network operators (MNOs), Tier-1 chipset makers, and OEMs. Devices connected over satellite are managed and served by Skylo's commercial NTN vRAN, featuring a 3GPP standards-based cloud-native base station and core. Skylo provides an anywhere, anytime connectivity solution that seamlessly roams between terrestrial and satellite networks. Our focus is on enabling connected services for people outdoors and connected workflows across three main verticals: mass-market consumer devices, automotive, and industrial IoT.

This role is located in Espoo, Finland where we are onsite 3 days a week in office. 

Summary Of How You Will Impact Skylo

Skylo is hiring a Sr. Staff RAN Operations Engineer to help fulfill Skylo’s mission of making satellite connectivity available to all. As the production authority for RAN health and performance across Skylo’s NTN network, you will evolve our Network Operations from reactive monitoring to service-centric assurance. This is a live-network, SLA-protecting role focused on defining RAN KPIs, leading production optimization, and acting as the Level-3 authority during customer impacting incidents.

As the Sr. Staff Core Operations Engineer, you will operate as the production authority for Skylo’s live LTE and 5G Core within its global Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) platform.

You will directly safeguard 24×7 service reliability by leading L3 incident response, resolving complex control-plane and user-plane failures, and driving Root Cause Analysis across Core, RAN, Cloud (GCP), and partner interfaces

By transforming telemetry, KPIs, and signaling behavior into actionable monitoring, automation, and operational standards, you will reduce MTTA and MTTR while preventing chronic degradations before they impact customers

Your leadership will enable Skylo to scale its commercial NTN footprint—supporting new partners, roaming integrations, and global expansion—without compromising stability, SLA commitments, or customer trust.

Your impact will be immediate and mission-critical:

• Protect Live Service Stability
• Reduce MTTA and MTTR Through L3 Production Authority
• Strengthen Operational Excellence
• Enable Commercial Scalability
• Improve Cross-Team Execution

What the role will look like

This position is fundamentally operational and production-centric, focused on safeguarding and continuously optimizing Skylo’s live Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) mobile core environment.

As the Sr. Staff Core Operations Engineer, you will serve as the L3 technical authority within a 24×7 Network Operations framework—owning complex, cross-domain incidents, accelerating service restoration, and delivering thorough, high-quality Root Cause Analysis.

You will operate at the core of Skylo’s live LTE and 5G production environment, providing hands-on leadership across RAN, Core, Cloud, and partner interfaces. The role is incident-driven, execution-focused, and deeply integrated across internal engineering teams and external network ecosystems.

Balancing architectural accountability with real-time operational command, you will ensure the stability, scalability, and performance of Skylo’s commercial, satellite-enabled mobile core as the network expands globally.

Key Responsibilities - This role is responsible for stabilizing, scaling, and continuously hardening Skylo’s live commercial NTN mobile core environment.

• Own Mobile Core Production Operations - Lead the design, operation, and optimization of LTE EPC and 5G Core functions (MME,HSS, SGW, PGW, AMF, SMF, UPF) within Skylo’s hybrid satellite + cellular architecture
• Serve as L3 Escalation Authority - Act as the senior technical lead for complex, high-severity incidents across control plane and user plane domains. Drive rapid restoration and deliver thorough Root Cause Analysis in a 24×7 operational environment 
• Lead End-to-End Troubleshooting - Conduct deep cross-domain analysis spanning RAN, Core, Cloud (GCP), Linux infrastructure, and roaming/partner interfaces to isolate root causes and prevent recurrence
• Drive Performance & Reliability Engineering - Translate KPIs, telemetry, and signaling behavior into proactive monitoring improvements. Reduce MTTA and MTTR while eliminating chronic degradations
• Strengthen Monitoring & Automation - Enhance observability, alerting systems, dashboards, and automation tooling to shift operations from reactive response to predictive service assurance
• Partner & Vendor Technical Leadership - Engage satellite operators, roaming providers, and vendors to resolve production issues, maintain SLA compliance, and ensure seamless integrations
• Uphold Security & Operational Standards - Provide subject matter expertise in policy control, authentication, signaling integrity, virtualization, and cloud-native best practices—raising the technical rigor of production operations

What We Look For 

We’re looking for a production-minded engineer who thrives in live network environments and is energized by solving complex, real-world reliability challenges

This role is responsible for stabilizing, scaling, and continuously hardening Skylo’s live commercial NTN mobile core environment, so we value individuals who naturally think in terms of resilience, risk mitigation, and operational rigor.

• Deep Mobile Core Understanding - Ideally experienced in LTE EPC and/or 5G Core environments, with strong familiarity across control plane and user plane signaling, Diameter, GTP, and key 3GPP interfaces
• Production-First Mindset - Comfortable operating in carrier-grade, 24×7 environments where service reliability, SLA protection, and rapid incident resolution are critical
• Strong Cross-Domain Troubleshooting Skills - Able to analyze issues that span RAN, Core, cloud infrastructure (preferably GCP), Linux systems, and partner integrations—connecting symptoms to root cause with clarity and discipline
• KPI & Observability-Driven Thinking - Enjoys translating network behavior into measurable KPIs, dashboards, and proactive alerts that prevent customer impact before it occurs
• Cloud & Virtualization Familiarity - Exposure to virtualized or cloud-native mobile core deployments, containerized workloads, and modern infrastructure platforms is highly valued
• Ownership & Leadership Under Pressure - Demonstrates calm, decisive leadership during high-severity incidents, with clear technical communication and accountability across global teams
• Continuous Improvement Orientation -Passionate about strengthening operational standards, improving automation, and elevating the technical rigor of production environments

What We Offer

With employees working across three continents, Skylo is proud to be an equal opportunity employer dedicated to building an inclusive and diverse workforce. Our worldwide and inclusive culture encourages a flexible approach to work, and we also offer an attractive range benefits such as: 

• Competitive compensation packages including a stock option based equity program 
• Comprehensive benefits including medical, dental, vision, retirement plan
• Monthly allowances for wellness and education reimbursement
• A generous time off policy, holidays
• Once in a lifetime opportunity to be a part of developing and running world’s first commercial, live direct-to-device satellite network and service 
• Access to world-class team and talent across tech domains: software, hardware, chipsets, telecom, satellite and network virtualization 
• Open, transparent, inclusive culture that blends the Silicon Valley, Nordic and South Asia characteristics

EEO StatementSkylo is an equal-opportunity employer and we celebrate diversity. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, ancestry, national origin, caste, sex, sexual orientation, parent or caregiver status, political affiliation, gender, gender identity or expression, age, disability, medical condition, pregnancy, genetic makeup, marital status, or military service consistent with applicable federal, state, and local laws.

We are also committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans in our job application procedures. Please let us know if you need assistance or accommodation due to a disability.