Sensor & C2 Integration Engineer

About Alta Ares

Alta Ares is a deeptech startup founded in 2024, building real‑time AI for defense operations – ISR, C‑UAS, and autonomous systems. Our clients are NATO‑aligned militaries and defense institutions, with regular deployments during live exercises and operational demonstrations. We raised €2M seed in May 2025 and €50M in June 2026, and are expanding fast.

Our product suite includes:

• Real‑time AI ISR module deployable on drones and tactical platforms
• Counter‑UAS solution enabling autonomous drone takeover in GNSS‑denied environments
• Full‑stack MLOps platform for training & deploying military‑grade AI models
• Data fusion and trajectory prediction

Role & Mission

As Sensor & C2 Integration Engineer, you will own the interoperability layer that connects Alta Ares’ systems to the broader sensor and command‑and‑control ecosystem of our military and institutional partners. Your core mission is twofold: ingest and normalize track data from heterogeneous external sources – radar feeds, sensor networks, and tactical data links speaking CoT, ASTERIX, or proprietary partner protocols – and expose Alta Ares’ own systems to partner Command & Control (C2) infrastructure through the SAPIENT protocol. You sit at the intersection of protocol engineering, systems integration, and partner‑facing technical work, often validating your integrations live alongside partner engineers during joint test campaigns and demonstrations.

This is a role with real architectural responsibility: every new partner integration adds to a portfolio you are accountable for keeping coherent, documented, and maintainable as it scales.

Key Responsibilities

• Radar & Sensor Track Integration (CoT, ASTERIX, Proprietary Protocols)
• Design, implement, and maintain ingestion pipelines for heterogeneous external track sources: Cursor‑on‑Target (CoT) XML streams, ASTERIX binary radar feeds, and proprietary partner protocols
• Build and evolve a normalized internal track model that abstracts source‑format differences (coordinate frames, update rates, track quality/confidence metrics) for consumption by downstream systems (GCS, fusion, guidance)
• Develop parsers, decoders, and protocol adapters with strict validation against partner ICDs and interface specifications
• Handle multi‑sensor track correlation and basic fusion logic: deduplication, track continuity across sensor handoff, timestamp alignment
• Ensure resilience to malformed, late, duplicated, or out‑of‑order messages from partner systems
• Own the integration of Alta Ares’ systems with partner Command & Control (C2) infrastructure via the SAPIENT protocol
• Implement and maintain SAPIENT‑compliant sensor and fusion nodes: registration, detection reporting, task and command handling, per the SAPIENT interface specification
• Lead technical integration work with partner C2/radar vendors: interface review, joint integration test planning, real‑time troubleshooting during demonstrations
• Produce and maintain partner‑facing integration deliverables (ICDs, integration overview datasheets), with careful redaction of internal or sensitive parameters before partner delivery
• Track and adapt to partner‑specific variants and evolving revisions of the SAPIENT standard
• Maintain a coherent internal architecture for sensor/C2 interoperability able to scale across a growing portfolio of partner integrations
• Track the evolution of relevant standards (SAPIENT, ASTERIX, CoT, and adjacent tactical data standards) and assess their impact on Alta Ares' integration layer
• Define and enforce internal conventions for track data handling, coordinate transformations, and time synchronization across heterogeneous sources
• Contribute to protocol‑selection and architecture decisions for new partner integrations
• Support integration test sessions, technical kick‑offs, and live demonstrations with sensor and C2 partners
• Debug interoperability issues in real time during joint trials: protocol mismatches, timing drift, coordinate‑frame errors, malformed messages
• Validate end‑to‑end data flow, from external detection through to track consumption, under operational conditions
• Translate partner feedback into concrete specification and implementation improvements
• Maintain interface control documents (ICDs), integration overview datasheets, and test reports for each partner integration
• Define and enforce coding standards and review processes for the sensor/C2 integration codebase
• Maintain and report on integration status across the full partner portfolio
• Support knowledge transfer and onboarding of other engineers on protocol‑specific topics

Experience

• 4–7 years of experience in systems integration, defence/C2 systems, radar data processing, or tactical data link engineering
• Demonstrated hands‑on, production‑grade experience with at least one of: ASTERIX, CoT, or SAPIENT – with working familiarity with the others considered a strong plus
• Proven experience integrating with or building interfaces to radar systems and/or C2 platforms in an operational or near‑operational context
• Experience producing and maintaining ICDs or interface specifications for external technical partners
• Prior work in defence, dual‑use, or government‑related programs is a strong plus
• Familiarity with adjacent NATO/tactical standards (STANAG 4586, Link 16, JREAP‑C) is a plus

Technical Skills — You Must Be Able to Do These Yourself

• Strong proficiency in Python and/or C++ for protocol parsing and middleware development
• Binary and XML protocol parsing (ASTERIX categories, CoT XML schema, SAPIENT messages)
• Network protocols used for sensor/C2 data feeds: UDP/TCP, multicast, serial
• Geospatial transformations: coordinate systems (WGS84, ECEF, local NED/ENU) and cross‑source time synchronization
• Precise reading and implementation of formal ICDs and interface specifications
• Git‑based development workflows in a collaborative engineering environment