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Xona Space Systems is seeking a Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET) to ensure quality and accuracy across its navigational intelligence platform. Xona is building Pulsar, an advanced satellite-based positioning and navigation system in Low Earth Orbit designed to provide centimeter-level precision globally.
In this role, you will architect and maintain production-grade test suites in C++ and Python for core distributed cloud and edge systems. You'll work closely with software developers to build deterministic test harnesses, mock frameworks, and simulation utilities that validate complex numerical and navigation logic without relying on live production environments.
Key responsibilities include:
- Developing clean, performant C++ unit and integration test suites using GoogleTest/Catch2 for complex navigation algorithms
- Building Python integration tests for end-to-end system workflows
- Designing test harnesses and mock frameworks to test edge cases in hard-to-reach scenarios
- Testing C++/Python binding layers to ensure seamless data transfer between core algorithms and higher-level systems
- Writing and maintaining Bazel test targets and integrating with GitLab CI/CD pipelines
- Measuring and tracking code coverage metrics (gcov/lcov, Bazel coverage) to enforce quality gates
- Leading root-cause analysis on complex test failures and collaborating with core developers on fixes
- Collaborating with infrastructure engineers on integration and end-to-end tests against live AWS resources and Kubernetes environments
Required qualifications include a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or equivalent, 3+ years as an SDET/QA Engineer or Software Engineer focused on automated testing, strong C++ and Python proficiency, CI/CD pipeline experience, distributed systems testing background, and proven ability to write clean, maintainable test code.
Nice-to-have skills include aerospace/defense/GNSS experience, low-level interop testing (pybind11, gRPC), containerized testing (Docker/Kubernetes), deterministic simulation or hardware-in-the-loop testing, GitLab CI/CD expertise, and Bazel build system experience.
Note: U.S. citizenship or lawful permanent residency required to comply with space technology export regulations.
