
Software Engineer- Cybersecurity and Cryptography
Xona Space Systems · Burlingame, California · Onsite
- Aerospace & Defense
- 51–200 employees
- Burlingame, California
Weak hiring record · median 121 days open
All reasons
- Open 208 days
- 69% of this employer's openings are over 60 days old
In its favour
- Still listed on the employer's own board
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 are seeking a high-caliber Software Engineer specializing in Cybersecurity and Cryptography to lead the development of our production-grade ground segment software. This isn't just a standard security role; you will be a primary architect and implementer of the cryptographic foundations that protect our satellite constellation and the sensitive data moving between Earth and orbit.
You will build the "trust anchor" of our mission, ensuring that command uplinks, telemetry downlinks, and user data remain authenticated and encrypted against sophisticated threats.
Required Qualifications
Cryptographic Implementation
Design and implement production-ready cryptographic modules for key management, identity and access management (IAM), and secure communication protocols (e.g., TLS, AES-GCM, ECC).
Defensive Programming
Apply rigorous defensive programming techniques to eliminate common vulnerabilities (buffer overflows, integer underflows, race conditions) and ensure software resilience against adversarial inputs.
Persistent Memory Integration
Develop secure data-at-rest solutions for persistent memory (PMEM) architectures, ensuring that sensitive cryptographic material stored in non-volatile RAM is encrypted and protected against cold-boot or physical extraction attacks.
Ground Software Development
Lead the development of high-availability ground station software that manages the security lifecycle of the satellite constellation.
Root of Trust & HSM Integration
Integrate Hardware Security Modules (HSMs) and Trusted Platform Modules (TPMs) into the ground infrastructure to ensure secure key storage and signing operations.
Technical Qualifications
Experience
5+ years of software engineering experience with a heavy focus on security-sensitive applications.
Languages
Mastery of C/C++ with a focus on memory-safe patterns and defensive coding standards (e.g., MISRA C, SEI CERT). Proficiency in Python for security tooling.
Systems Programming
Direct experience programming for persistent memory or non-volatile storage, including an understanding of memory-mapped files and data consistency models.
Applied Cryptography
Deep understanding of symmetric/asymmetric encryption, digital signatures, hashing, and Public Key Infrastructure (PKI).
Security Infrastructure
Hands-on experience with Cloud Security (AWS), Kubernetes security, and automated CI/CD security scanning (SAST/DAST).
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with Satellite Ground Segment software or aerospace communications.
- Knowledge of Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) standards.
- Familiarity with hardware-level security and side-channel attack mitigation.
- Experience implementing Zero Trust architecture in hybrid-cloud environments.
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).
For U.K. Roles
To comply with U.K. regulations, this role requires Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) checks, and successful candidates must be eligible to obtain UK Security Clearance (SC).
For Canada Roles
Successful candidates 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.
We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or veteran status.
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