Software Engineer- Cybersecurity and Cryptography
- Salary
- $193K - $218K
- Level
- Senior
- Work type
- On-site · Burlingame
Not stated in the posting: visa.
Open. First seen 2 October 2026.
About the role
Xona Space Systems's standard text
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.
We are seeking a high-caliber Software Engineer specializing in Cybersecurity and Cryptography to lead the development of our production-grade ground segment software. This isn't just a standard security role; you will be a primary architect and implementer of the cryptographic foundations that protect our satellite constellation and the sensitive data moving between Earth and orbit.
You will build the "trust anchor" of our mission, ensuring that command uplinks, telemetry downlinks, and user data remain authenticated and encrypted against sophisticated threats.
Required Qualifications
- 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.
Technical Qualifications
- 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).
Preferred Qualifications
- 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.
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.
Xona Space Systems's standard text
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.
What this role asks for
Particular to this role
IAM · Kubernetes · Zero Trust
Rare in Xona Space Systems's other 41 open postings.
Standard for security roles
AWS · Cybersecurity · Python
Common in security postings at any company.
83% of this description is written for the role. The rest is Xona Space Systems's standard text, folded away below.
Read against Xona Space Systems's other open postings on this site.
The team: Engineering HIRES STEADILY
This role is one of 18 open in Engineering. 1 was posted in the last 30 days and the oldest in January: a team that hires all year rather than one being built.
WHAT THE TEAM WORKS WITH, ACROSS ITS POSTINGS
Python (13 of 18), C++ (7 of 18), AWS (6 of 18), CI/CD (6 of 18), Bash (5 of 18), GitLab (5 of 18), Kubernetes (5 of 18)
OTHER ROLES ON THIS TEAM
- Cloud Infrastructure Engineer - Platform Engineering posted Sep 23
- Technical Program Manager, Software posted Sep 16
- Technical Writer posted Sep 3
- Cloud Security Specialist – Platforms Engineering posted Aug 24
- Senior Cloud Architect – Platforms Engineering posted Aug 24
- RF Test Engineer posted Jul 30
- Sr. Mechatronics Designer/Specialist posted Jul 28
- Sr. Navigation Engineer posted Jul 9
- Lead RF Engineer posted Jun 17
- Software Engineer – Space Systems posted Jun 3
- Software Engineer - Build & Release posted Jun 3
- Sr. RF Engineer posted May 19
- GNSS Engineer posted Apr 24
- Sr. FPGA Engineer posted Apr 23
- Communications / DSP Engineer posted Apr 14
- Sr. Flight Dynamics Engineer posted Jan 20
- Sr. Full Stack Engineer posted Jan 17
From the team and dates on Xona Space Systems's own job board.
See Software Engineer salaries in the United States →
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