Senior Materials & Processes Engineer

The posting, as Xona Space Systems wrote it

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.

Role Overview

We are seeking a senior, broadly capable Materials & Processes (M&P) engineer to own the coatings, materials, finishes, joining methods, and manufacturing-process standards that support our spacecraft programs—from early development through qualification and production.

This is a high-impact technical role for an engineer who combines deep materials judgment with a practical, hands-on approach to spacecraft hardware. You will develop material-selection and process-control strategies, define qualification and acceptance approaches, solve material and manufacturing problems, and work directly with design, manufacturing, test, quality, suppliers, and external laboratories.

Initial priorities include building high-confidence internal capability for spacecraft coatings and finishes—including a production-transferable white-paint process—alongside polymerics/adhesives, thermal interface materials, and mechanical-joint characterization. More broadly, you will define how Xona selects, qualifies, documents, and controls materials and processes across its spacecraft programs.

No candidate is expected to be the foremost expert in every specialty. We are looking for an exceptionally strong M&P engineer with meaningful experience in several relevant areas and the technical curiosity to lead across the remainder.

What You’ll Do

Establish Spacecraft M&P Standards and Strategy

• Develop and own spacecraft M&P standards, specifications, approved-material lists, process requirements, and qualification approaches.
• Define practical material-selection criteria that balance performance, reliability, environmental compatibility, manufacturability, cost, schedule, and production scalability.
• Establish traceability, handling, storage, shelf-life, lot-control, inspection, and acceptance requirements for critical materials and processes.
• Serve as the technical authority for M&P decisions during design reviews, qualification planning, anomaly investigations, supplier reviews, and production-readiness activities.
• Turn lessons learned from testing, manufacturing, and hardware anomalies into durable design and process standards.

Materials Selection, Qualification, and Characterization

• Guide the selection and qualification of spacecraft-relevant metals, coatings, finishes, thermal-control films, polymers, adhesives, sealants, potting compounds, thermal interface materials and gaskets, ceramics, refractory materials, lubricants, and related materials.
• Assess materials for spacecraft risks including vacuum compatibility, outgassing, contamination, therm

[…]
rigor, speed, and practical execution.

What Success Looks Like

• Xona has a clear, usable M&P framework: standards, specifications, approved materials and processes, qualification logic, and production controls appropriate for spacecraft development and scale.
• Critical materials and processes are intentionally selected, supported by data and appropriate statistical methods, and documented well enough to be repeatable across builds.
• Coatings, finishes, and thermal-control surface materials—including the internal white-paint process—are qualified and transferred into reliable production execution.
• Adhesives, polymerics, thermal interface materials, lubrication, and bolted-joint practices are characterized, standardized, and robust.
• Engineering and production teams receive timely, actionable M&P guidance early enough to prevent downstream rework.
• Material and process anomalies are rigorously investigated, converted into lessons learned, and used to improve future spacecraft designs and builds.

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.