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Xona · 1 day ago

Sr. GNC Orbit Controls Engineer

Burlingame, CA

Full-time

Onsite

Senior Level

Xona is the navigational intelligence company bringing real-time, centimeter-level certainty to any device, anywhere on Earth. The Sr. GNC Orbit Controls Engineer will design and implement algorithms and onboard software for orbit determination, guidance, and maneuver execution to ensure safe and efficient spacecraft operations.

AerospaceGPSInformation ServicesNavigationSatellite CommunicationSoftware

No H1B

U.S. Citizen Only

Responsibilities

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

Qualification

Orbit determinationGuidanceControl softwareElectric propulsion experienceC++ programmingMATLABSimulinkTrajectory designSoft skills

Required

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

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 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

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