GNC Orbit Controls Engineer

Location Burlingame, CA

Employment Type Full time

Location Type On-site

Department Satellite

Compensation

$140K – $180K • Offers Equity

The final job level and salary will be determined based on a range of factors including the candidate’s education, qualifications, knowledge, skills, abilities, and relevant experience. The listed salary range is provided to offer insight into potential compensation, but it’s not a guarantee of the final offer. While we include the full range to be transparent, offers most often fall within the middle portion rather than the top.

Xona is the navigational intelligence company bringing real-time, centimeter-level certainty to any device, anywhere on Earth.

With Pulsar – the world’s most advanced PNT satellite infrastructure in Low Earth Orbit – Xona will offer a future-proof, backwards-compatible global positioning system optimized for absolute precision, superior power, and robust protection.

We're looking for a

GNC Orbit Controls Engineer

to design and implement the algorithms and onboard software that handle orbit determination, guidance, maneuver execution, and post-maneuver analysis to deliver safe, efficient, and highly automated station-keeping and disposal. We’re building the software that keeps our spacecraft exactly where they need to be.

What You’ll Do

Develop open-loop and closed-loop controllers for

RAAN and LTAN control , altitude management, station-keeping, and end-of-life disposal

Implement and maintain

onboard orbit propagators , select and validate integrators, and ensure numerical consistency with ground truth

Build and validate

orbit determination

pipelines using

EKF or UKF

with

GNSS , and manage navigation readiness and covariance gating for maneuvers

Design burns and long-arc trajectories, and

optimize delta V and timelines

under comm visibility, power and thermal, and operations constraints

Plan and execute

electric-propulsion long burns , including throttle profile generation, power and duty‑cycle scheduling, thermal considerations, ignition and re‑ignition logic, progress monitoring, and correction strategies

Coordinate burn pointing and wheel momentum strategy with ADCS

Maintain numerically consistent

MATLAB

and

C++

simulators, create Monte Carlo campaigns, run SIL and HIL tests, and perform post‑maneuver reconstruction

You Might Be a Fit If

You are strong in

orbital mechanics and simulation

and have implemented

onboard propagators

with perturbation models and integrators on flight targets

You have built production guidance, control, or navigation software in

C and C++ , and use

MATLAB and Simulink

for analysis, modeling, and test‑vector generation

You have designed

RAAN and LTAN control

strategies in open-loop and closed-loop forms and validated them in high-fidelity sims or flight

You have executed or supported real maneuvers and can reconcile plan versus truth with post-burn estimation

You are comfortable at the ADCS and propulsion interface for burn pointing and momentum management

Desired Qualifications

Master’s or Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering, Control Systems, Applied Physics, or a related field

Hands‑on

electric propulsion

experience including thrust modeling and calibration, long-burn guidance, duty‑cycle planning, and thermal constraints

Experience with orbit propagation algorithms

Trajectory design and optimization

expertise

Emphasis on

code quality and reliability

with unit and integration testing, SIL and HIL, and experience on embedded RTOS or embedded Linux targets

Familiarity with

CCSDS ephemeris and attitude formats

For U.S. Roles:

To comply with U.S. Government space technology export regulations, applicant must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the United States (i.e. Green Card holder), or other protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3).

For U.K. Roles:

To comply with U.K. regulations, this role requires Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) checks, and successful candidates must be eligible to obtain UK Security Clearance (SC).

For Canada Roles:

Successful candidates must obtain and hold a security clearance at the reliability status level, and pass security assessment for the Canadian Controlled Goods Program (CGP) and ITAR.

We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or veteran status.

Compensation Range: $140K - $180K

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