We met the engineers behind Europe’s largest public safety technologies – ”There’s no room for error when a 112 call is made”

In the heart of the industrial region of Helsinki’s Pitäjänmäki is the Finnish headquarters of quite an interesting company. Here over 200 engineers work on societally important and extremely interesting projects – which aren’t necessarily about what you first might think.

This article has been written in collaboration with Airbus. Airbus are now hiring experienced IT professionals. Check out their open jobs by clicking the link below!

High social impact equals high expectations

What is the first word that comes into your mind when you think about a company called Airbus? There is an about 99 % chance that your answer is airplanes.

"Yeah, even some of our stakeholders in the IT industry first assume that we work in the airplane industry," laughs Jouni Kemppainen who works as Head of System Architect team at the Airbus Helsinki office.

"Our international parent company has its own departments for that. Instead, here in Finland, we develop secure telecommunication systems for authorities around the world," he corrects. "So our work is just normal IT product development." 

I wouldn’t say completely normal though. There’s one thing that significantly differentiates Airbus from other similar telecom and IT firms: the remarkably high societal impact of the work.

Jouni has been working in the telecom industry for a long time. At Airbus he started in 2010 as a system architect. "The operational reliability requirements of the system, that we’re developing here, are radically different compared to normal telecommunication networks. This means that the work is more demanding and more rewarding too. Security and reliability are a part of our identity here." 

Airbus’ customers are mainly public safety network operators, public safety officers, medical teams and other professionals who rely on secure communication solutions in their work. Thus the expectations that the clients have are high; which Jouni tells that employees find both challenging and motivating.

If you call 112 and ask for help, the authorities must be able to dispatch the help without any interference. Or when an officer asks for backup, the request has to be delivered and the call has to be connected in a couple of hundred milliseconds. There’s no room for error.

"The largest public safety systems in Europe have been provided by us," Jouni discloses. In Finland for example authorities communicate via the Virve network. The Virve network is based on TETRA technology and is developed by Airbus.

"These days most of the data communication product development happens abroad, but TETRA standard  based system is still being developed here in Finland. Our Jyväskylä office is responsible of the terminals and here in Helsinki we develop the network infrastructure," Jouni explains.

Everyone is trusted to take care of their own responsibilities

The work at Airbus is project-based and the teams have typically many projects going on at the same time. Alongside the longer projects there are a lot of shorter ones, such as research projects or smaller product projects.

The longest TETRA projects can last up to two years, if for example a new network is being implemented somewhere in the world. "Usually one person’s part is not that long though," clarifies field support engineer Tommi Tuomisto, whose work includes working in projects related to customer installations and upgrades.

As mentioned earlier, Airbus has both local and international clients. Tommi, for example, came to Airbus two and a half years ago and since then most of the project he’s been working on have been international. "Having the possibility to travel is one of the best parts of my job," he mentions.

Tommi also compliments the working culture: "In my opinion it’s really open and based on trust. You get a task and then it’s up to you how you do it. Everyone trusts you and everyone has a sense of responsibility of their own work. When we are here we focus on the job and on helping each other." 

Jouni appreciates this as a team leader too: "All of the professionals here have their own field of responsibility and I can trust everyone to do their work well. It’s one of the best parts about working here. We work hard, but at the same time the vibe is quite relaxed. There’s always room for humor, questions and learning."

Change opens up new opportunities – ”we have a demand for new ideas and creativity”

Airbus’ Helsinki office employs around 200 professionals and the Jyväskylä office around 70. The high expectations of the clients require systematic ways of working, focus on the essential and clear goals.

The industry is changing and evolving constantly; at the moment Airbus’ telecom operations are in a state of technological transition. The whole company is changing from a telecom company into something between a telecom and an IT company.

"There are new ways of doing things. We are researching a lot of rising technologies such as network function virtualisation and software defined networks, so that we can offer new solutions for our customers," tells Jouni.

"In the old days telecom companies had a lot of own hardware and things were done with circuit switching. Now we are doing IP switching and moving into data centers." 

This has opened up career opportunities for professionals who have new kind of expertise.

Luis Zuniga-Mayorga works as a Senior IP Networking specialist on the broadband sector, which is a brand new field of technology in the public safety field. "We are working on a plan so that our customers can move from TETRA to LT, 4G or 5G. This is a very new world in general, the standardization and research in this field is something that hasn’t been done before," he tells.

"I’ve been here for three years and the best part of my job is that I get to work on a lot of different things, different technologies and with different people. The customers are just learning about the best ways to adapt new systems."

Exciting career opportunities for innovative IT professionals

Airbus is growing and evolving – and looking for new talent.

"We are in an unique state of evolution at the moment. We’ve been dealing with TETRA for years and now we’re migrating onto broadband. We want to do it properly, so that our customers get the best possible solutions," Luis says.

This means career opportunities for IT professionals with new ideas and skills. "This is a great time to get on board, we are working with the newest things at the moment and it’s interesting to evolve the company, virtualize things et cetera," Tommi adds. 

 We need open-minded people, creative people, who have a drive to learn and be collaborative – people who can bring new technologies and new ways of thinking into the company

"The technological challenges are in themselves motivating, but the other side – the societal impact – is also a major part of this job. If you want to help people and do good things with your work, this is the place for you," Jouni finishes.

Airbus is hiring now! Check out their open jobs and submit your application now »