Navigation Engineer

The role

The Senior Navigation Engineer will lead technical direction for core positioning and timing capabilities within the Navigation Software team. This role involves designing algorithms, leading orbit determination development, and architecting timing solutions for the satellite system.

What you will do

• Drive technical direction for core positioning and timing capabilities
• Mentor junior engineers
• Bridge the gap between algorithm development and flight-ready implementation
• Design and optimize algorithms for centimeter-level accuracy
• Lead development of orbit determination pipelines
• Architect timing solutions for the constellation
• Develop and validate ionospheric and tropospheric correction models
• Define fault detection and exclusion frameworks
• Serve as a technical liaison with payload software and systems engineering

Required qualifications

• MS or PhD in Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Geomatics, Applied Mathematics, or a related field
• 7+ years of experience in GNSS-based navigation, state estimation, or related domains (aerospace, autonomous systems, geodesy)
• Deep expertise in statistical estimation—extended/unscented Kalman filters, batch least squares, factor graphs, or similar
• Proven track record shipping navigation algorithms from prototype to production
• Strong Python skills for rapid prototyping and analysis
• Proficiency in C++ for flight or embedded implementations
• Experience with GNSS data formats (RINEX, SP3, RTCM) and tools (GIPSY, Bernese, or similar)
• Familiarity with orbital mechanics, reference frames, and time systems

Nice to have

• Experience with LEO PNT or multi-constellation/multi-frequency processing
• Background in integrity and protection level computation (ARAIM, SBAS concepts)
• Prior work on real-time navigation systems with latency and throughput constraints
• History of mentoring engineers or leading small technical teams

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.