LEO Backhaul Service-Continuity Board Adviser

The mandate

The board cannot settle whether its next fleet platform should assume LEO connectivity as the normal operating state or treat every vessel as intermittently connected. Commercial leaders promise shore-like applications, satellite teams expect multi-orbit diversity, vessel engineers need deterministic degraded modes, and legal teams see jurisdictional routing and telemetry limits that product roadmaps have not absorbed. This standing question returns at every network investment gate.

The adviser will provide two working days each month, join a monthly network architecture session, attend three investment committee meetings and complete three vessel or control-centre visits. A priority question arising from an outage or contract decision receives an initial view within one business day; routine papers are reviewed within five. The retainer includes preparation and the stated attendance.

The appointment ends after nine months. During month eight the chair may invite a proposal for a distinct implementation-assurance scope, but renewal requires a new board resolution and cannot extend this mandate by default. Any unused meeting allocation expires at term-end and does not create an open advisory balance.

The adviser carries no line authority and no executive, navigation, safety, network-operating or contracting accountability. Management owns vessel operations and supplier commitments, while the committee controls investment. The adviser may test assumptions, request failure evidence and shape service boundaries, but cannot direct crews, configure networks, approve routes or speak as the operator.

The adviser may retain up to three other non-conflicting roles. Work for an orbit operator, maritime connectivity rival, antenna supplier, network integrator, shipping customer negotiating this service or infrastructure fund with a relevant holding must be declared. Vendor commissions, capacity-resale income and transaction-contingent compensation are incompatible with independent participation.

Why the board wants this voice

Directors hear separate cases for satellite capacity, onboard edge and customer applications, but lack someone who has governed them as one failure-prone service. Coverage maps and headline bandwidth do not explain handover interruption, rain fade, congested gateways, jurisdiction changes or stale local state. The chair wants an operator’s challenge before customer promises outrun recoverable vessel behaviour.

What you will own

• Press management to classify vessel functions by tolerated latency, disconnection, stale state, bandwidth loss, jurisdiction and human fallback.
• Test multi-orbit diversity claims against shared gateways, spectrum, terminals, power, software control, weather cells and commercial priority classes.
• Challenge edge-service designs for synchronisation conflict, cache expiry, local identity, data loss, delayed command and safe reconnection.
• Examine supplier concentration across constellations, antennas, modems, orchestration, gateways, maritime support and capacity resale arrangements.
• Shape customer service envelopes that distinguish expected degradation, protected traffic, restoration evidence and conditions beyond operator control.
• Probe fleet economics across reserved capacity, pooled bandwidth, terminal retrofit, onboard compute, support, route seasonality and unused commitment.
• Frame the closing board position on connectivity architecture, retained alternatives, investment stages and promises that should not enter contracts.

Candidate qualifications

• Governed maritime, aviation or remote-mobility connectivity spanning satellite, terrestrial and onboard edge environments.
• Designed service continuity for moving assets crossing beams, gateways, weather systems, jurisdictions and intermittent terrestrial coverage.
• Exposed hidden common dependencies inside a purported multi-orbit or multi-provider resilience design.
• Defined disconnected and reconnection behaviour for safety-relevant or commercially critical edge applications with stateful workflows.
• Challenged satellite-capacity economics using route, congestion, terminal, priority and committed-capacity evidence.
• Maintained board independence while holding current relationships in a concentrated satellite and maritime supplier ecosystem.

Non-negotiables

• Can meet the Amsterdam cadence and complete all three vessel or control-centre visits across the named geographies.
• Will disclose satellite, antenna, maritime, integrator, customer and infrastructure-investor relationships before receiving supplier proposals.
• Accepts that crews, executives and the investment committee retain all operating, safety and contracting authority.
• Brings production connectivity evidence from moving remote assets; fixed-site enterprise networking alone is insufficient.

1. 49 words maximum. Describe one multi-orbit design that still failed through a shared ground or onboard dependency.
2. 49 words maximum. Which current satellite, maritime, customer or investment relationship might limit your independence?
3. 49 words maximum. Confirm the Amsterdam cadence and name one vessel function that must remain safe without backhaul.