Senior Testbed Software Engineer

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 a Senior Testbed Software Engineer, you will architect and build our spacecraft Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) testbed software from scratch, integrating flight hardware (or engineering models) with real-time simulation and automated validation tooling. This environment will validate flight software (FSW), avionics interfaces, fault management behaviors, and operational workflows end-to-end before launch. Space experience is not required. We welcome candidates from robotics, autonomy, automotive HIL, aerospace, defense, or other mission/safety-critical systems.

What You’ll Do

• Design and implement the HIL testbed software architecture, establishing scalable patterns, reproducible baselines, and maintainable infrastructure.

• Integrate flight hardware + real-time simulation + command/telemetry + automated tests into deterministic, repeatable workflows.

• Develop and maintain interface layers for avionics and instrumentation (RS-422/485, Ethernet, I2C/SPI, GPIO, DAQ, power systems).

• Build the FSW-facing simulation layer (sensor/actuator emulation, peripheral models, timing models, interface shims).

• Implement fault injection and scenario orchestration to validate FDIR, safe-mode, and recovery logic.

• Develop telemetry tooling for capture, decode, time alignment, replay, and automated reporting.

• Characterize system timing (latency, jitter, scheduling behavior, resource usage) and define measurable acceptance criteria.

• Automate regression testing and integrate the HIL environment into CI/CD where appropriate.

This Role Is a Strong Fit If You Come From

Robotics / Autonomy / Automotive HIL

• Experience connecting real hardware to simulation environments.

• Strong understanding of deterministic behavior, timing budgets, and fault scenarios.

• Built test orchestration frameworks or automated validation systems for complex embedded systems.

Avionics / Integration & Test / Embedded Systems

• Owned or contributed significantly to integrated testbeds for embedded or avionics systems.

• Comfortable working from ICDs and debugging across hardware, firmware, and software boundaries.

• Experience validating interfaces, running system-level test campaigns, and producing verification evidence.

Required Qualifications

• 4+ years of experience in system integration, HIL/SIL environments, or embedded hardware/software validation.

• Demonstrated ownership of a production-quality HIL or integrated test environment (or a major subsystem).

• Strong experience designing and maintaining testbed software (orchestration, interface layers, telemetry tooling, fault injection).

• Practical expertise with embedded buses and lab instrumentation (RS-422/485, Ethernet, I2C/SPI, GPIO, DAQ, power systems).

• Solid understanding of real-time systems, timing, latency, scheduling, and resource constraints.

• Strong documentation and cross-functional communication skills.

If you’re excited about the role but don’t meet every requirement, we still encourage you to apply.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in mission-critical or safety-critical engineering environments.

• Experience integrating hardware test environments into CI/CD workflows.

• Experience with operations rehearsals, telemetry analysis, or anomaly investigations in complex systems.

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.