GNC Orbit Controls Engineer
Xona· Engineering
Burlingame, California$130k - $175kFull-timePosted 1w ago
About the role
GNC Orbit Controls Engineer to design and implement algorithms and onboard software for orbit determination, guidance, maneuver execution, and post-maneuver analysis to achieve safe, efficient, and automated station-keeping and disposal for Pulsar-based satellite infrastructure.
Responsibilities
- 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
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
Skills
Required:Orbital mechanicsGNC software (C++, MATLAB)Maneuver planning and post-burn estimation
Last updated Oct 14, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.
About Xona
Next Era Navigational Intelligence | Xona
Xona is the navigation infrastructure company bringing real-time, centimeter-level certainty to any device, anywhere on Earth.
Location servicesPulsarGNSSNavigationPNTsatellites
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