Electrical Engineer

Xona Space Systems, Inc.; Burlingame (CA); On-site; USD 110,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Xona Space Systems, Inc. in Burlingame is seeking an Electrical Engineer to design, develop, and integrate electrical systems powering spacecraft propulsion. You will work with propulsion and avionics teams to ensure hardware reliability in harsh space environments.

Lead hardware design from concept to flight, perform lab testing, develop test procedures, and write Python scripts for automation and data logging.

Qualifications

• B.S. in Electrical Engineering or related field.
• 2+ years taking mixed-signal designs from schematic to lab bring-up.
• Experience with space-grade hardware considerations is a plus.
• Familiarity with Altium, KiCad, SPICE for design and simulation.
• Hands-on embedded hardware design and peripheral interfaces.

Responsibilities

• Hardware design for propulsion electronics and sensing interfaces.
• Lead schematic capture and multi-layer PCB layout from breadboard to flight hardware.
• Design DC/DC converters and driver stages for inductive and resistive loads.
• Develop and test electrical interfaces, perform lab validation and debugging.
• Write Python scripts for test automation and data logging.
• Support integration, environmental testing, and documentation.

Skills

Mixed-signal design

Embedded hardware design

Power electronics

Signal integrity

Hardware reliability

Education

B.S. in Electrical Engineering

Tools

Altium

KiCad

SPICE

Oscilloscopes

CAN interfaces

Job description

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.

Role Overview

We are looking for an Electrical Engineer to join our satellite development team. In this role, you will design, develop, and integrate electrical systems that power and control spacecraft propulsion systems, working closely with engineers from other subsystems to integrate your designs from concept through flight.

This is a hands-on, collaborative role where you'll lead electrical hardware design, lab testing, and debugging across low-to-high voltage subsystems. This includes embedded microcontroller hardware, power tree design, precision sensor acquisition, valve drivers, and dedicated DC/DC converters. You will work alongside firmware and power electronics engineers and collaborate closely with propulsion and avionics teams to ensure hardware reliability in harsh space environments.

What You'll Do

• Hardware Design: Design and develop electrical subsystems for propulsion electronics, including embedded microcontroller hardware, sensor interfaces, valve drivers, and power conversion.
• PCB Development: Lead schematic capture and multi-layer PCB layout design from breadboard prototypes to flight hardware.
• Power & Driver Stages: Design, tune, and validate DC/DC converters and driver stages for inductive and resistive loads.
• Analog Acquisition: Implement precision analog front-ends for critical telemetry, including current sensing (high-side/low-side), pressure transducers, and temperature monitoring.
• Firmware Collaboration: Collaborate closely with embedded firmware engineers to define hardware/firmware interfaces, peripheral pin mappings, register maps, and communication protocols (CAN, SPI, I2C, UART, RS-422).
• Reviews & Quality: Conduct hardware design and layout reviews. Support component sourcing while ensuring compliance with standards and derating guidelines.
• Testing & Automation: Develop and execute electrical test plans from breadboard to flight hardware, writing Python scripts for test automation and data logging.
• Lab Debugging: Troubleshoot and debug electrical systems in a lab environment using test equipment (e.g., oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, electronic dynamic loads, power meters).
• Documentation: Develop electrical interface documentation (ICDs) and test procedures for spacecraft subsystems.
• Integration Support: Support assembly, integration, and test (AIT) activities, including environmental testing (e.g., TVAC, vibration, EMI/EMC).

Required Qualifications

• Education: B.S. in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field.
• Experience: 2+ years taking mixed-signal designs from schematics to manufacturing and lab bring-up.
• EDA & Modeling: Familiarity with electrical design and simulation tools (e.g., Altium, KiCad, SPICE).
• Core Technical: Fundamental understanding of mixed-signal electronics, power tree design, power conversion, signal integrity, and hardware reliability in harsh space environments.
• Embedded HW: Hands-on experience designing embedded microcontroller hardware and peripheral interfaces (CAN, SPI, I2C, UART, RS-422).
• Power Electronics: Experience designing driver circuits for inductive loads (valves, valve drivers, solenoids) and closed-loop DC/DC converters. High-voltage power electronics experience is a plus.
• Analog Design: Strong background in precision sensor acquisition and analog signal conditioning (op-amps, filtering, ADC/DAC interfacing).
• Lab Validation: Hands-on experience with electrical testing, debugging (oscilloscopes, dynamic loads, power meters), and Python test scripting.

Preferred Qualifications

• Exposure to satellite systems, avionics, or electrical power systems.
• Experience with space environmental testing (e.g., TVAC, vibration, EMI/EMC per MIL-STD-461) and component derating standards (e.g., NASA EEE-INST-002).
• Experience developing hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulators
• Familiarity with reading embedded C/C++ to collaborate seamlessly with firmware engineers during low-level driver bring-up and boundary-scan debugging.

Eligibility

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 Good