Chief Financial Officer

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. The CFO will be a strategic and operational partner to the CEO and executive team, responsible for leading Xona’s financial strategy, execution, and infrastructure. This role blends high-level financial leadership with hands-on ownership across accounting, FP&A, fundraising support, compliance, and systems. You’ll play a critical role in capital strategy, operational planning, and ensuring financial rigor as Xona scales its satellite constellation, manufacturing, and commercial operations. What You’ll Do - Partner closely with the CEO and Board to define and execute Xona’s financial strategy - Provide clear financial insights to support business decisions, growth initiatives, and long-term planning - Serve as a trusted advisor to the executive team on budgeting, forecasting, and trade-off decisions - Own company-wide budgeting, forecasting, and long-range financial planning - Build and maintain operating models supporting R&D, manufacturing, and deployment programs - Track KPIs and financial performance, highlighting risks, opportunities, and corrective actions - Oversee accounting operations including monthly close, financial statements, and audits - Ensure strong internal controls and compliance with GAAP and regulatory requirements - Manage relationships with external auditors, tax advisors, and banking partners - Support equity and debt fundraising, including investor materials, data rooms, and diligence - Partner with the CEO on capital planning, runway management, and scenario modeling - Build and scale financial systems, tools, and processes to support company growth - Oversee ERP, accounting software, and reporting infrastructure - Drive process improvements that balance financial rigor with startup agility - Build and lead a high-performing finance team over time - Work cross-functionally with Engineering, Operations, Manufacturing, Legal, and HR - Support contract review, pricing strategy, and vendor negotiations as needed Required Qualifications - 10+ years of progressive finance leadership experience (CFO, VP Finance, or equivalent senior role) - Proven experience operating in a fast-paced startup or scale-up environment - Strong expertise across FP&A, accounting, and financial operations - Experience supporting venture capital fundraising and Board-level financial reporting - Hands-on, detail-oriented leader willing to dive in where needed - Ability to communicate clearly with both technical and non-technical stakeholders - Strong judgment, analytical rigor, and ability to drive decisions under ambiguity Desired Qualifications - Experience in aerospace, space, defense, hardware, or other capital-intensive technical environments - Experience supporting government customers, grants, or regulated contracts - Familiarity with manufacturing cost models and hardware program economics - Experience scaling finance teams and systems from early-stage to growth-stage - Exposure to ERP implementation or financial systems build-out - CPA, CFA, and/or MBA (preferred but not required) 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 as