Senior Mechanical Engineer - Spacecraft Components and Systems

Muon seeks a Senior Mechanical Engineer to serve as a hardware expert in component design. You’ll own the mechanical direction of the component from requirements definition to installation on the launch vehicle. This will include direct collaboration with Muon’s engineering teams to understand requirements, execute designs, deliver robust hardware, pulling in relevant stakeholders (such as structural, thermal, electrical, etc) at the appropriate times to deliver a satellite on-time.

Being an early-stage startup with a small team, breadth is extremely important and we expect this person to dive into structural analysis, dynamics, thermal design, supplier management, and everything else associated with the full lifecycle of an electromechanical product.

This position is hybrid and requires working on-site in our San Jose, CA office three days per week.

• Have a deep understanding of Muon’s spacecraft platforms & capabilities. Tailor and develop components to these platforms to meet mission needs.

• Design, build, and test mission specific components and payloads.

• Create, analyze, and refine spacecraft system mechanical designs in SolidWorks.

• Design & document new, reusable components to be included in Muon’s common platform.

• Lead mechanical portion of both internal and external design reviews.

• Interface with structural and thermal engineers to define and run analysis.

• Lead component environmental testing campaigns (vibration, TVAC, etc)

• Write new documentation and build procedures unique to the mission.

• 8+ years of experience designing, building, and testing high reliability hardware

• B.S. or higher in Mechanical Engineering or related field

• Proficiency in CAD (SolidWorks preferred) for component and assembly design

• Mastery of drawings, GD&T, BOMs, FAIs, tolerance budgets, and mass budgets

• Experience with ECO/DCO processes and PLM systems

• Demonstrated proficiency leading mechanical design for complex electromechanical systems

• Experience technically leading or managing a small team of engineers and/or technicians

• Extensive documentation capabilities: build procedures, test plans, design trades, DOEs

• Experience managing external vendors for part prototyping and development

• Excellent communication, presentation, and cross-functional coordination skills

Nice-to-have Skills

• Flight heritage—hardware you designed that has successfully operated in space

• Experience optimizing and maturing existing designs (not only clean-sheet development)

• Familiarity with satellite payloads and mission-level mechanical integration

• Experience with deployable hardware (solar arrays, antennas, mechanisms)

• Experience with ADCS components: reaction wheels, torque rods, star trackers

• Experience running structural analyses (FEMAP, ANSYS) & environmental testing

• Experience with thermal management systems for spacecraft

• Large assembly management in SolidWorks PDM; experience with PLM systems (Duro or similar)

• Software skills in Python, MATLAB, or similar

• Project management experience: customer reviews, Gantt charts, risk tracking

• Experience qualifying external vendors and contract manufacturers

The salary range for this role is $183,000 - $198,000, plus a competitive equity grant and comprehensive benefits package. Final compensation will be based on skills, qualifications, experience, and geographic location as assessed during the interview process.

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