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Job Summary:
Xona is a navigational intelligence company focused on providing real-time positioning solutions. They are seeking a high-caliber Software Engineer specializing in Cybersecurity and Cryptography to lead the development of production-grade ground segment software that protects their satellite constellation and sensitive data.
Responsibilities:
• Design and implement production-ready cryptographic modules for key management, identity and access management (IAM), and secure communication protocols (e.g., TLS, AES-GCM, ECC).
• Apply rigorous defensive programming techniques to eliminate common vulnerabilities (buffer overflows, integer underflows, race conditions) and ensure software resilience against adversarial inputs.
• Develop secure data-at-rest solutions for persistent memory (PMEM) architectures, ensuring that sensitive cryptographic material stored in non-volatile RAM is encrypted and protected against cold-boot or physical extraction attacks.
• Lead the development of high-availability ground station software that manages the security lifecycle of the satellite constellation.
• Integrate Hardware Security Modules (HSMs) and Trusted Platform Modules (TPMs) into the ground infrastructure to ensure secure key storage and signing operations.
Qualifications:
Required:
• Cryptographic Implementation: Design and implement production-ready cryptographic modules for key management, identity and access management (IAM), and secure communication protocols (e.g., TLS, AES-GCM, ECC).
• Defensive Programming: Apply rigorous defensive programming techniques to eliminate common vulnerabilities (buffer overflows, integer underflows, race conditions) and ensure software resilience against adversarial inputs.
• Persistent Memory Integration: Develop secure data-at-rest solutions for persistent memory (PMEM) architectures, ensuring that sensitive cryptographic material stored in non-volatile RAM is encrypted and protected against cold-boot or physical extraction attacks.
• Ground Software Development: Lead the development of high-availability ground station software that manages the security lifecycle of the satellite constellation.
• Root of Trust & HSM Integration: Integrate Hardware Security Modules (HSMs) and Trusted Platform Modules (TPMs) into the ground infrastructure to ensure secure key storage and signing operations.
• Experience: 5+ years of software engineering experience with a heavy focus on security-sensitive applications.
• Languages: Mastery of C/C++ with a focus on memory-safe patterns and defensive coding standards (e.g., MISRA C, SEI CERT). Proficiency in Python for security tooling.
• Systems Programming: Direct experience programming for persistent memory or non-volatile storage, including an understanding of memory-mapped files and data consistency models.
• Applied Cryptography: Deep understanding of symmetric/asymmetric encryption, digital signatures, hashing, and Public Key Infrastructure (PKI).
• Security Infrastructure: Hands-on experience with Cloud Security (AWS), Kubernetes security, and automated CI/CD security scanning (SAST/DAST).
• 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.
Preferred:
• Experience with Satellite Ground Segment software or aerospace communications.
• Knowledge of Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) standards.
• Familiarity with hardware-level security and side-channel attack mitigation.
• Experience implementing Zero Trust architecture in hybrid-cloud environments.
Company:
Xona develops satellite navigation services delivering positioning, navigation, and timing data via a low Earth orbit network. Founded in 2019, the company is headquartered in Burlingame, USA, with a team of 51-200 employees. The company is currently Growth Stage.