Senior Research/Standardization Specialist

Research & Innovation (R&I) in Technology Standards lays the path for Nokia’s future technology innovation and identifies the most promising areas for Nokia to create new value. We set the company’s strategy and technology vision, offer an unparalleled research foundation for innovation, and provide critical support infrastructure for Nokia.

Within R&I, we drive Nokia's technology leadership by developing and bringing innovative concepts to industry and standardization organizations. R&I also works within the ecosystems to ensure an inventor friendly industry environment, favorable to Nokia’s business success. The unit has a strategic objective of anticipating, shaping, and protecting future technologies and systems and ensuring appropriate standards and industry specifications are developed.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end 6G radio protocol research on at least one of the following areas;
  • User plane design for SDAP, PDCP, RLC, MAC, QoS, Service and AI awareness and
  • Interactions between MAC and physical layer such as L2 procedures for HARQ, scheduling, MIMO, and AI enablers
• Act as;
  • Nokia’s delegate representative to 3GPP RAN2, taking ownership of technical contributions, agenda shaping, consensus building, and alignment of standardization outcomes with Nokia’s 6G research and business priorities or
  • Nokia researcher on 3GPP RAN2 User Plane topics, responsible for technical contributions, concept development, C++ simulations, and aligning standardization research with Nokia's 6G priorities.
• Develop pioneering 6G intellectual property on radio protocol area.
• Embed AI-first principles into 6G standards research.
• Represent and champion Nokia’s technical leadership in 3GPP and external research forums, advocating next-generation radio protocol design and architectures.
• Shape Nokia’s 6G technology and standards strategy, contributing to long-term research roadmaps for radio protocols on user plane area aligned with business and ecosystem priorities.
• Collaborate closely with physical layer, radio performance, RF, regulatory, and system teams to ensure coherent evolution from research concepts to product-relevant technologies.

Qualifications
Requirements

• Strong system-level expertise in 5G and/or emerging 6G systems.
• Master’s degree or Ph.D. in electrical engineering, communications, signal processing, or a related field.
• Deep understanding of radio access systems and associated technology challenges.
• Solid grasp of radio product portfolios and wireless business strategy.
• Familiarity with AI-driven research methodologies, including data-driven and agentic workflows.
• Prior 3GPP standardization experience.
• Demonstrated ability to serve as an effective 3GPP delegate, including technical authority, preparation and delivery of high-quality contributions, active meeting participation, and coordination across internal stakeholders to form coherent Nokia positions.

Ideal Background

• 5+ years of research experience in 6G-relevant radio topics.
• Proven track record in concept development, performance evaluation, and technical leadership in complex research programs and/or standards development organization such as e.g. 3GPP.
• Experience working in multinational and cross-cultural environments.
• Strong ability to operate in highly complex, innovation-driven organizations.
• Proactive in scouting, assessing, and applying state-of-the-art research results.
• Fluent in English, both spoken and written.

Personal Attributes

• Strong technical depth combined with influencing and communication skills.
• Excellent networking and collaboration abilities across organizational boundaries.
• Open-minded, adaptable, and resilient in fast-evolving research and standardization environments.
• Analytical and structured, with the ability to cut through complexity and prioritize effectively.
• Passion for continuous learning and professional growth.
• Strong results orientation and willingness to take on new challenges.

Location
Finland