Senior Mixed Signals Engineer

Xona Space Systems, Inc.; Burlingame (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Xona Space Systems, Inc. in Burlingame, CA seeks a Senior Mixed-Signal Engineer to lead RFSoC hardware design for space-grade systems. You’ll own placement, layout, and high-speed routing of RFSoC boards, integrating RF, analog, digital, clocking, power, and data interfaces into a robust hardware platform.

You will collaborate with RF, electrical, FPGA and mechanical teams to move hardware from concept through prototyping, test, and production, ensuring space-environment requirements are met.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, or related discipline.
• 8+ years of experience in mixed-signal, RF, high-speed digital, or advanced PCB design.
• Understanding of electromagnetic principles behind radio frequency communications.
• Ability to interpret PCBA schematics and layout drawings. Familiarity with PCB ECAD tools such as Altium for both schematic and layout.
• Demonstrated experience laying out complex RFSoC, FPGA, ADC/DAC, RF, or high-speed mixed-signal boards.
• Strong understanding of mixed-signal PCB design, including: Controlled impedance; Differential signaling; High-speed serial interfaces; Clock and synchronization design; Power distribution; Grounding and shielding; RF transmission lines; Signal and power integrity.
• Hands-on experience using electrical/RF test equipment, including multimeters, oscilloscopes, signal generators, and spectrum analyzers.
• Knowledge of typical performance metrics for RF communications systems.
• Experience using or interpreting results from tools for signal-integrity, power-integrity, electromagnetic, or thermal analysis.
• Experience with RFSoC or comparable devices from AMD/Xilinx, including device pin planning, power requirements, clocking, transceiver interfaces, and high-speed data-converter connectivity.
• Familiarity with interfaces such as JESD204, DDR, PCIe, Ethernet, Aurora, high-speed ADC/DAC interfaces, and RF clocking systems.

Responsibilities

• Lead placement, layout, and high-speed routing of RFSoC-based boards.
• Integrate RF, analog, digital, clocking, power, and high-speed data interfaces into space-qualified hardware.
• Work with RF, electrical, FPGA, and mechanical teams to take RFSoC hardware from concept through design, prototyping, test, and production.
• Ensure RFSoC layout meets performance, manufacturability, thermal, mechanical, reliability, and space-environment requirements.

Skills

RF design experience

Mixed-signal PCB design

High-speed digital design

Signal integrity

Power integrity

Electromagnetic theory

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering

Tools

Altium

Vivado

PetaLinux

RFSoC

Job description

About Xona

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.

GNSS (GPS) creates upwards of $500B in economic value in the US every year, supporting everything from consumer applications to transportation systems to time sync for critical infrastructure. As these industries progress towards autonomy, the performance and security demands of their navigation 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 constructing a modern satellite network at the rapid pace of the new space industry, leveraging the recent wave of technology and regulatory advancements. Building on our patent-pending 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 from the very fragile GNSS signals. Our satellite system will provide the first-ever high-accuracy global navigation and timing services with the security and resilience modern applications need to operate safely at scale.

About the Role

We are seeking a Senior Mixed-Signal Engineer to lead the design and implementation of advanced electronics for satellite and space-based systems. The primary responsibility of this role will be the placement, layout, and high-speed routing of RFSoC-based boards, integrating RF, analog, digital, clocking, power, and high-speed data interfaces into a robust, space-qualified hardware platform.

The successful candidate will work closely with RF, electrical, FPGA, and mechanical teams to take RFSoC hardware from concept through design, prototyping, test, and later production. They will ensure the RFSoC layout meets performance, manufacturability, thermal, mechanical, reliability, and space-environment requirements.

Required Qualifications

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, or a related discipline.

8+ years of experience in mixed-signal, RF, high-speed digital, or advanced PCB design.

Understanding of electromagnetic principles behind radio frequency communications.

Ability to interpret PCBA schematics and layout drawings. Familiarity with PCB ECAD tools such as Altium for both schematic and layout.

Demonstrated experience laying out complex RFSoC, FPGA, ADC/DAC, RF, or high-speed mixed-signal boards.

Strong understanding of mixed-signal PCB design, including:

• Controlled impedance
• Differential signaling
• High-speed serial interfaces
• Clock and synchronization design
• Power distribution
• Grounding and shielding
• RF transmission lines
• Signal and power integrity

Hands-on experience using electrical/RF test equipment, including multimeters, oscilloscopes, signal generators, and spectrum analyzers.

Knowledge of typical performance metrics for RF communications systems.

Experience using or interpreting results from tools for signal-integrity, power-integrity, electromagnetic, or thermal analysis.

Experience with RFSoC or comparable devices from AMD/Xilinx, including device pin planning, power requirements, clocking, transceiver interfaces, and high-speed data-converter connectivity.

Familiarity with interfaces such as JESD204, DDR, PCIe, Ethernet, Aurora, high-speed ADC/DAC interfaces, and RF clocking systems.

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, cross-team collaborative environment.

Effective communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to work closely with multidisciplinary teams and external partners to achieve project goals.

Strong understanding of manufacturing constraints, PCB fabrication, assembly, inspection, and design-for-manufacturing.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience designing electronics for satellites, spacecraft, launch vehicles, avionics, or other mission-critical systems.
• Experience with space-qualified or radiation-tolerant components and PCB materials.
• Familiarity with ECSS, NASA, MIL-STD, IPC, or other relevant aerospace and electronics standards.
• Experience with thermal-vacuum, vibration, shock, radiation, EMC/EMI, and environmental qualification testing.
• Experience designing RF payload, software-defined radio, communications, radar, remote-sensing, or satellite-navigation hardware.
• Knowledge of RFSoC development workflows, including Vivado, PetaLinux, Vitis, RF Data Converter tools, RFDC configuration, and FPGA/embedded