GNSS (GPS) creates upwards of $500B in economic value in North America every year, supporting everything from consumer applications, to transportation, to time sync for critical infrastructure. As these industries progress towards autonomy, the performance and security demands of their Position, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) systems are increasing beyond what GNSS can support, leaving a need for a cost-effective global solution.

Using lessons we've learned at places like SpaceX and Blue Origin, Xona is building a modern commercial satellite system at the rapid pace of the new space industry leveraging the recent wave of technology and regulatory advancements. Building on our patented small satellite architecture, we are developing a robust and accurate service that is an independent alternative to GNSS rather than a correction, solving the longstanding challenge of obtaining a reliable high accuracy solution. Our satellite system will provide the first ever high-accuracy global navigation and timing services with the security and resilience that modern applications need to operate safely at scale.

As a DSP/Communications Engineer at Xona, you will own the RF signals link between our next-generation LEO constellation satellites and ground receivers. From communications link simulations to link budgets to low-level signal metrics, your work will help drive implementation details throughout our hardware/firmware stack to ensure Xona’s high-precision and high-accuracy GNSS service.

• 3 - 6 years of signal processing and communications experience
• Hands-on RF communications prototyping with tools such as GNU Radio or Simulink.
• Prior work with simulating RF communications links down to signal distortions.
• Understanding of spread-spectrum signals and digital modulation schemes such as QPSK.
• Experience with RF link budgets, and with distilling out hardware/firmware requirements.
• Knowledge of typical performance metrics for RF communications systems.
• Ability to analyze and interpret RF measurements, and to assess performance vs. design requirements.
• Fluency in Python and C/C++ for signal processing.
• Familiarity with git/gitflow.
• Willing and able to travel to support off-site testing events as needed.
• Self-starter attitude and proactive in seeing projects from design through implementation.
• Excellent problem-solving skills, attention to detail, and the ability to thrive in a fast-paced, collaborative team environment.

Desired Qualifications

• Experience with satellite communications.
• Hands-on experience using electrical/RF test equipment, including multimeters, oscilloscopes, signal generators, and spectrum analyzers.
• Lab experience with RF test set-ups for communications measurements.
• Knowledge/experience with GNSS systems.