Lead Flight Software Architect — Satellite Constellation

Front Door Defense; Burlingame, Northern (CA, KY); Hybrid; USD 218,000 - 274,000; Full time

Job summary

Xona is seeking a Director of Flight Software Engineering to own the onboard software architecture for the Pulsar constellation. You will lead the embedded flight software team, oversee system-level verification, and ensure reliable delivery from requirements to launch and on-orbit operations.

You will partner with systems, avionics, payload, GNC, and ground segments to define roadmaps, promote engineering excellence, and scale software across hundreds of satellites in a high-reliability space

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in CS/Engineering or related field.
• 10+ years software engineering experience incl embedded, real-time, or high-reliability systems.
• 3+ years people leadership managing software engineers or technical leads.
• Experience leading software architecture and delivery for complex systems (aerospace preferred).
• Hands-on with CI/CD, configuration management, and automated testing.

Responsibilities

• Lead and grow the Flight Software team across the Pulsar constellation.
• Define and evolve the flight software architecture, interfaces, and development roadmap with cross-functional teams.
• Own end-to-end delivery: requirements decomposition, design, implementation, testing, HIL validation, and launch/on-orbit support.
• Build a high-performing organization through hiring, coaching, and culture of ownership and cross-functional collaboration.
• Establish and improve software development practices that scale with constellation growth and over-the-air update needs.
• Drive quality, reliability, and process maturity to reduce risk and cost and meet program commitments.
• Partner with senior leadership on technology strategy, long-term roadmaps, and resource planning.

Skills

Embedded RTOS experience

Software architecture leadership

CI/CD pipelines

Unit/integration testing

People management

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science/Engineering

Tools

CI/CD tooling (e.g., Jenkins)

Configuration management

Automated testing frameworks

Job description

Xona is seeking a Director of Flight Software Engineering to own the onboard software architecture for the Pulsar constellation. You will lead the embedded flight software team, oversee system-level verification, and ensure reliable delivery from requirements to launch and on-orbit operations.

You will partner with systems, avionics, payload, GNC, and ground segments to define roadmaps, promote engineering excellence, and scale software across hundreds of satellites in a high-reliability space