Director of Flight Software Engineering

The role

You will own the architecture, delivery, and team that powers the onboard software for the Xona satellite bus and the Pulsar constellation. You will lead embedded flight software development, system-level verification and validation, and processes for scalable software across hundreds of satellites.

What you will do

• Lead and grow the Flight Software team
• Define and evolve the flight software architecture, interfaces, and development roadmap
• Own end-to-end delivery from requirements to on-orbit operations
• Build a high-performing organization through hiring, coaching, and development
• Establish and improve software development practices
• Drive quality, reliability, and process maturity
• Partner with senior leadership on technology strategy and resource planning

Required qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or related STEM field or equivalent practical experience
• 10+ years of professional software engineering experience, including significant time in embedded, real-time, or high-reliability systems
• 3+ years of people leadership experience managing software engineers or technical leads
• Demonstrated experience leading software architecture and delivery for complex systems
• Hands-on background with modern software practices, including CI/CD pipelines, configuration management, and automated testing

Nice to have

• 5+ years developing or leading embedded/flight software in aerospace or space systems
• Direct experience taking satellite or spacecraft software from early design through launch and on-orbit operations
• Experience architecting or managing software for multi-satellite fleets, including over-the-air updates, fault management, and constellation-scale operations
• Familiarity with real-time operating systems (RTOS), space flight software frameworks (e.g., cFS, F´, or similar), C/C++, and hardware/software integration & test environments
• Track record of building high-reliability processes and cultures in fast-moving hardware/software organizations
• Ability to drive consensus across multi-disciplinary teams and influence technical and program decisions at the senior leadership level

Before you apply

• For U.S. Roles: applicant must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the United States (i.e. Green Card holder), or other protected individual
• For U.K. Roles: requires Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) checks and eligibility to obtain UK Security Clearance (SC)
• For Canada Roles: 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

About the company

Xona is the navigational intelligence company bringing real-time, centimeter-level certainty to any device, anywhere on Earth. With Pulsar, Xona will offer a future-proof, backwards-compatible global positioning system.