National Capital Region's Top Employers (2025) - Flipbook - Page 34
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NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION’S TOP EMPLOYERS (2025)
Telesat is experiencing Lightspeed growth
A
work trip to Iqaluit
shortly after he
joined Telesat was a
real eye-opener for
Stephen Hampton.
He was captivated by the
splendour of the Canadian North
– dramatic landscapes, warm
hospitality, the unique culture of
the Inuit. But there was something
else that drew him in – something
in the way that everyone reacted
to Telesat’s presence in the
community.
“I got to hear first-hand stories
about the impact connectivity
was having on peoples’ lives,”
Hampton recalls. “It was little
things like streaming Netflix, but
it was also big things like access
to education and health care. I
already knew that I got to work
on cool things, but this reinforced
what an impact my company was
having in Canada and around the
world.”
Telesat has been making an impact on Canadian lives for a long
time. The company was founded
in 1969 to pioneer satellite connectivity. In 1972 it became the first
company in the world to place a
domestic communications satellite
into geostationary orbit – the Anik
A1 (Inuktitut for “brother”).
Today, there’s a new space
race in low Earth orbit (LEO)
where “constellations” made up
of hundreds of satellites offer
faster speeds and more complete
coverage of the globe. Telesat has
taken a leadership role in satellite
constellation technology and will
be launching its own LEO satellite
constellation called Telesat
Lightspeed. “We’re launching 200
highly advanced satellites that are
going to revolutionize that level
of connectivity,” says Hampton.
“Getting to be a part of that is
pretty special.”
Being on the forefront of a
communications revolution comes
with its challenges. Telesat has
been experiencing unprecedented
growth recently, adding 30 per
cent to its workforce in the last
year alone.
Building and operating satellites
means hiring aerospace and
telecommunications engineers,
software engineers, flight dynamics engineers and others. Another
engineering and operations group
deploys and maintains ground
services and connections. There is
also a large marketing, sales and
support team, a legal team that
keeps track of regulatory filings
and contracts, and a financial
reporting team.
If you look at the work
that we’re doing and the
progress we’re making
on the Telesat Lightspeed
program, it speaks volumes
to that team we’re building
here.
— Stephen Hampton
Senior Director, Government
Affairs and Strategic
Accounts
Engineers at Telesat tackle the largest space program in Canada’s history.
“Most of the people we employ
are highly skilled individuals,”
says Michèle Beck, Telesat’s senior
vice president, Canadian sales.
“Ideally we look for people who
have the background knowledge
to hit the road running.”
If it sounds like it might be
tough to fill those roles, Beck says
the company is currently suffering
an embarrassment of riches when
it comes to new hires. “We’re creating a new kind of space economy
and a lot of people want to be part
of it. We’re interviewing and hiring
at a rate we’ve certainly not seen in
decades.”
What new employees find is a
culture that is highly supportive
and collaborative, according to
Beck.“If there’s a challenge in
