Technical Writer - Spacecraft & Manufacturing

Xona Space Systems; Burlingame (CA); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Xona Space Systems, a pioneer in navigational intelligence, seeks a Technical Writer embedded with the program team. You will support engineering and manufacturing from satellite development documentation to production floor work instructions, influencing documentation standards and cross-site consistency.

You will collaborate with engineers to extract technical details, produce clear SOPs, and drive documentation that scales as the team expands while ensuring regulatory and program compliance

Qualifications

• 4–7 years of technical writing in aerospace, defense, hardware manufacturing, or similar.
• Ability to write clear work instructions and SOPs for manufacturing/assembly.
• Comfort working directly with engineers to extract content.
• Self-directed with multiple workstreams in a fast-moving environment.
• Willingness to ask questions when requirements are unclear.

Responsibilities

• Produce and maintain ICDs, test procedures, design specs, and review packages.
• Develop, review, and maintain manufacturing work instructions, assembly procedures, and SOPs.
• Collaborate with distributed teams across sites; travel may be required.
• Generate, edit, and maintain contract deliverable documentation.
• Develop SLA definitions and document escalation paths and configurations.
• Establish document control and scale standards as the team grows.

Skills

Aerospace technical writing (4–7 yrs)

Clear work instructions & SOPs

Engineer collaboration

Self-directed multitasking

Clarifying questions for clarity

Tools

Confluence

Google Workspace

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.

As our first Technical Writer, you'll be embedded with the program team and support engineering and manufacturing across the company - from satellite development documentation to work instructions on the production floor. This is a cross-functional role that touches every part of how we build, test, and operate spacecraft.

Success in this role looks like:

• Technicians rarely need to ask for clarification on work instructions
• Engineering review packages are delivered on schedule with minimal revision cycles
• New team members can find relevant documentation within minutes
• Documentation standards you help establish scale gracefully as the team grows

What You'll Do

Engineering Documentation Support engineering teams across bus, payload, Guidance Navigation & Control (GNC), Flight Software (FSW), and subsystems in producing and maintaining technical documents including Interface Control Documents (ICDs), test procedures, design specs, and review packages. You'll attend design reviews and work directly with engineers to extract technical details and translate them into clear, accurate, and actionable documentation.

Work Instructions & SOPs Develop, review, and maintain manufacturing work instructions, assembly procedures, and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for spacecraft production - ensuring technicians have clear, accurate, and up-to-date guidance on the floor. You'll spend time on the production floor to understand processes firsthand.

Cross-Site Coordination Work across geographically distributed engineering and manufacturing teams to ensure documentation stays consistent, synchronized, and accessible across sites. Some travel between sites may be required.

Contract Documentation Generate, edit, and maintain contract deliverable documentation - including reports, data packages, and compliance documents - ensuring accuracy and timely delivery against contractual requirements.

Mission Operations Develop and maintain team Service Level Agreement (SLA) definitions with other teams like Service Operations and satellite subsystems, document escalation paths, and system configurations to support reliable on-orbit operations and ground system management. Maintain documentation supporting regulatory compliance (e.g., FCC/NOAA licensing, Orbital Debris Mitigation plans).

Document Control Help establish and maintain the organization, versioning, and accessibility of technical documentation - making sure the right people can find the right document at the right time. As our first writer, you'll play a key role in selecting and setting up systems that work for our team.

Process Building Develop lightweight documentation standards and templates that scale as the company and program grow.

Required

• 4–7 years of technical writing experience in aerospace, defense, hardware manufacturing, or a similarly technical field
• Proven ability to write clear, accurate work instructions and SOPs for manufacturing or assembly environments
• Comfortable working directly with engineers to extract technical content and translate it into clean, usable documentation
• Self-directed and able to manage multiple documentation workstreams simultaneously in a fast-moving environment
• Comfortable asking questions when requirements are unclear - we value clarity over assumptions

Preferred

• Experience documenting spacecraft, satellite, or precision hardware development programs
• Experience supporting program reviews such as Preliminary Design Review (PDR), Critical Design Review (CDR), or Manufacturing Readiness Review (MRR) with documentation packages
• Familiarity with manufacturing execution or quality management systems
• Proficiency with documentation tools such as Confluence, Google Workspace, or similar
• Interest in growing into a documentation lead or program management role as the team scales

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.