GNC Orbit Controls Engineer

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 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 orbit determination pipelines using EKF with GNSS

• 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

Required Qualifications

• You are familiar with orbital mechanics and simulation and have had exposure with onboard propagators with perturbation models and integrators on flight targets

• You have GNC software experience in C++ and MATLAB for analysis, modeling, and test-vector generation

• You have 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

• B.S. or M.S. in Aerospace Engineering, Control Systems, Applied Physics, or a related field

• Familiar with electric propulsion including thrust modeling and calibration, long-burn guidance, duty-cycle planning, and thermal constraints

• Experience with orbit propagation algorithms

• Trajectory design and optimization expertise

• 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).