Mechanical Engineer - Spacecraft Components and Systems
Muon SpaceSan Jose, California, United States · Posted 5 months agoDescription
About the role
Muon seeks a Mechanical Engineer to join our team. The ideal candidate can go deep on design and analysis but also has a "systems mindset" and will be a force multiplier collaborating with other disciplines to arrive at an elegant, well-balanced design. 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 is an individual contributor role focused on hands-on design, analysis, build support, and test execution for spacecraft mechanical hardware.
This position is hybrid and requires working on-site in our San Jose, CA office three days per week.
Responsibilities
Mechanical Design
- Create, review, and refine spacecraft component and subsystem mechanical designs in a modern CAD package (SolidWorks), managing small-to-medium assemblies
- Develop clean-sheet mechanical and structural designs through detailed design, consistent with the risk posture, development velocity, and deployment schedules at Muon
- Create quick concepts to drive early-phase discussions and inspire the team
- Influence flight designs to ensure hardware is optimized for manufacturability, assembly, and testability
- Make economically sound make vs. buy decisions, balancing the need to quickly demonstrate capability while understanding the path to scaled-up constellations
Analysis
- Perform stress and dynamic analyses (hand calculations, simple FEM) to support and inform structural designs, including joint design, fastener sizing, and stiffness analyses
- Collaborate with structural and thermal analysts to iterate designs for performance and manufacturability
- Conduct trade studies to evaluate design alternatives and document recommendations
- Support mass budget tracking and tolerance stack-up analyses for mechanical assemblies
Build & Integration
- Create and maintain build procedures, assembly instructions, and work orders for mechanical hardware
- Support and oversee technicians during assembly and integration of mechanical components and subsystems
- Identify and resolve fit, form, and function issues during hardware builds
- Drive designs toward producibility, considering prototype through production quantity needs
- Conduct first article inspections (FAIs) and document non-conformances; participate in MRB as needed
Test & Verification
- Design test fixtures and GSE to support development, qualification, and acceptance testing
- Develop component and subsystem-level test plans and procedures for environmental testing (vibration, shock, TVAC)
- Specify and integrate test instrumentation (accelerometers, strain gauges, thermocouples, etc.)
- Execute and support environmental test campaigns; collect, reduce, and analyze test data
- Document test results and correlate with analysis predictions; recommend design updates as needed
Documentation & Configuration Management
- Create and maintain engineering drawings with proper GD&T, BOMs, and revision control
- Author and maintain design documentation including trade studies, interface control documents (ICDs), and design rationale
- Execute ECOs/DCOs and maintain configuration control through PLM systems
- Document lessons learned from builds and tests to inform future designs
Collaboration & Coordination
- Own delivery of mechanical items and subsystems, coordinating with analysts, avionics, program, thermal, optical, and RF engineers
- Manage development of mechanical/structural architectures through detailed design in collaboration with cross-functional stakeholders
- Coordinate with external vendors for part prototyping and development; review vendor deliverables for compliance with requirements
- Present design status, trade studies, and test results at design reviews
Required Qualifications
- 5 years of experience designing, building, and testing flight hardware in the space industry (or similar: aerospace, autonomous vehicles, robotics, etc.)
- B.S. or higher degree in Mechanical Engineering
- Proficiency in CAD (SolidWorks preferred) for component and assembly design
- Experience with engineering drawings, GD&T, BOMs, and ECO processes
- Demonstrated experience executing structural or environmental tests and documenting results
- Hands-on experience supporting hardware builds and integration activities
- Strong documentation skills: ability to author clear build procedures, test plans, and technical reports
- Excellent communication, presentation, and cross-functional coordination skills
- A desire to change the way the world understands and reacts to climate and environmental data
- Excited to work in a fast-paced environment with new opportunities each week
Nice-to-Have Skills
- Experience with deployable structures (solar arrays, antennas, mechanisms) or SADA mechanisms
- Experience running structural analyses for spacecraft (FEMAP, ANSYS, Nastran)
- Experience with thermal management systems for spacecraft
- Experience designing and executing qualification-level environmental tests (vibration, TVAC, shock)
- Large assembly management in SolidWorks PDM; experience with PLM systems (Duro or similar)
- Optomechanical instrument or payload design
- Experience with composite materials and bonded assemblies
- Experience managing external vendors for part prototyping and development
- Software skills in Python, MATLAB, or similar for data analysis and automation
- Familiarity with FAI processes, non-conformance reporting, and MRB activities
- Google Workspace proficiency (Sheets, Slides, Docs); Slack
Salary
The salary range for this role is $144,000 - $177,000 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.
About Muon Space
Founded in 2021, Muon Space is an end-to-end Space Systems Provider that designs, builds, and operates LEO satellite constellations delivering mission-critical data. Our revolutionary, integrated technology stack enables customers to optimize every dimension of their missions for faster time-to-orbit and superior constellation remote sensing performance. Our state-of-the-art facility in the heart of Silicon Valley is optimized for manufacturing spacecraft and rapid, flexible payload integration at scale. From climate monitoring to national security, Muon Space is dedicated to delivering Earth Intelligence for a safer and more resilient world.
Taking Care of Our Team
At Muon salary is only part of our total compensation package. In addition to salary, full-time employees receive equity compensation as well as benefits including medical, dental, and vision insurance, a 401k retirement plan, short & long term disability and life insurance. We also offer three weeks paid vacation for new employees, along with 12 paid holidays, unlimited sick time and paid parental leave.
Our mission embraces the entire planet and we believe our team should too. Muon is dedicated to creating a diverse and dynamic company and workforce. We believe in equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, age, national origin, citizenship, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, or gender identity. We value diversity in the workplace, and that starts with our applicants. We encourage you to apply, even if you don't check all the boxes, and we look forward to reviewing your application! In addition, if you need a reasonable accommodation as part of your application for employment or interviews with us, please let us know.
ITAR/EAR Requirements
This position requires access to export controlled information. To conform to U.S. Government export regulations applicable to that information, applicant must either be (A) a U.S. person, defined as a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (green card holder), (iii) refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, (B) eligible to access the export controlled information without a required export authorization, or (C) eligible and reasonably likely to obtain the required export authorization from the applicable U.S. government agency. The Company may, for legitimate business reasons, decline to pursue any export licensing process.
Similar jobs
Est. 190,500 USD
About the role 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 ve…
Est. 212,500 USD
About the role Muon seeks a Staff Mechanical Engineer to serve as the mechanical design technical lead for one of our satellite classes. You'll own and iterate on the class-level mechanical architecture- bus structure, t…
Est. 190,500 USD
About the role Muon seeks a Senior Mechanical Engineer to serve as a Mission Mechanical Lead on our Spacecraft Structures & Missions team — the group that tailors Muon's spacecraft platforms to specific customer miss…
Est. 190,500 USD
About the role Muon seeks a Senior Mechanical Engineer to serve as a hardware expert in the design of instrument mechanisms. You’ll own the mechanical direction of the instrument mechanical subsystems from requirements d…
Est. 160,500 USD
About the role Muon seeks a Mechanical Engineer to join our Spacecraft Structures & Missions team — the group that tailors Muon's spacecraft platforms to specific customer missions. In this role you'll own the mechan…
Est. 160,500 USD
About the role Muon seeks a Mechanical Engineer to design and build hardware for our new Solar & Deployables group — the team responsible for the solar arrays and deployable systems that power our spacecraft. Working…
Est. 194,000 USD
About the role Muon seeks an Engineering Manager to lead a team of mechanical engineers who tailor Muon's spacecraft platforms to specific missions. Starting from our common platform building blocks, this team designs pa…
Est. 247,500 USD
About the role Muon seeks an experienced leader to build and guide our Spacecraft Components organization through our next stage of rapid growth. This organization designs, qualifies, and delivers the components at the h…
Est. 175,000 USD
About the role Muon seeks a Senior Systems Engineer, Mission Success & Performance to join our Mission Engineering team. As we scale the Muon Mission Foundry, we need a strategic architect of mission success, someone…
Est. 194,000 USD
About the role Muon Space is seeking a motivated and enthusiastic Senior Electrical Hardware Engineer to join our growing team in San Jose, CA. This is an exciting opportunity to contribute to the design, development, an…
Est. 204,500 USD
About the role Muon seeks a Systems Engineer, Mission Platforms to join our Mission Engineering team. At Muon, we are delivering missions to help understand and act on Earth and climate intelligence. As a Mission Platfor…
Est. 229,000 USD
About the role Muon seeks a Systems Engineer, Mission Platforms to join our Mission Engineering team. At Muon, we are delivering missions to help understand and act on Earth and climate intelligence. As a Mission Platfor…
Est. 190,500 USD
About the role Muon seeks a Senior Mechanical Engineer who pairs strong design skills with a deep analysis background to join our new Solar & Deployables hardware group. You'll design the deployable structures that c…
Est. 247,500 USD
About the role Muon seeks an experienced leader to guide our Bus Structure and Missions team through our next stage of rapid growth. This team has a large scope including designing & owning our spacecraft bus structu…
Est. 190,500 USD
About the role Muon seeks a Verification & Qualification Engineer to own requirements, verification, and qualification for the mission-critical solar and deployable systems that power our spacecraft — solar arrays, s…
Est. 229,000 USD
About the Role Muon seeks a Staff Mission Lead Systems Engineer to join our Mission Execution team. At Muon, we are developing multiple missions to help understand and act on Earth and climate intelligence. As a Staff Mi…
Est. 212,500 USD
About the role Muon is seeking a Senior Manager to lead and build our Hardware Reliability & Test organization. This team partners with every hardware function to ensure consistent qualification across our platforms,…
Est. 175,000 USD
About the role Muon seeks a Senior Mission Lead Systems Engineer to join our Mission Engineering team. At Muon, we are developing multiple missions to help understand and act on Earth and climate intelligence. As a Senio…
Est. 194,000 USD
About the role Muon seeks an Engineering Manager to lead a team of electrical engineers who tailor Muon's spacecraft platforms to specific missions. This team owns all electrical customization a mission requires. This in…
Est. 212,000 USD
About the Role Muon seeks a Staff Mission Lead Systems Engineer to join our Mission Execution team. At Muon, we are developing multiple missions to help understand and act on Earth and climate intelligence. As a Staff Mi…
Est. 206,500 USD
About the role Muon seeks a Principal Mission Architect and mission formulation lead to join our mission development team to help direct the development of new mission architectures, with a focus on opportunities outside…
Est. 222,000 USD
About the role Muon seeks a Staff Software Engineer to join our flight software team. The ideal candidate is an expert software developer with significant previous experience architecting and building embedded devices or…
Est. 171,000 USD
About the role Muon seeks a Software Engineer to join our Mission Frontend team. In this role you will build and ship features across our Mission Command platform, the consolidated frontend for mission operations, custom…
Est. 193,000 USD
About the role Muon Space is seeking an experienced and hands-on Senior Electrical Test Engineer to join our team in San Jose, CA. In this role, you will own the architecture, development, and scaling of the test infrast…
Est. 222,000 USD
About the role Muon seeks a Staff Software Engineer to join our Software Test team. An ideal candidate is an expert in software testing processes, an accomplished software tool developer, and experienced with Hardware-in…
Est. 222,000 USD
About the role Muon seeks a Staff Software Engineer to join our Information Systems team. The ideal candidate is a self-motivated and versatile software engineer with a strong desire to develop mission-critical internal…
Est. 136,000 USD
About the role Muon seeks a Technician to join our Testbeds & EGSE team — the group that builds the Hardware-In-The-Loop (HITL) testbeds behind every Muon mission and the electrical ground support equipment (EGSE) us…
Est. 155,500 USD
About the role Software Engineers at Muon work on embedded software on satellites and test equipment, physics simulations, customer-facing APIs and services, user interfaces, scheduling algorithms, data pipelines, comput…
Est. 245,500 USD
About the role Muon seeks a highly experienced Director of Manufacturing Architecture to own and evolve the systems, tools, and processes that our entire spacecraft production engine runs on - PLM, MES, scheduling, and t…
Est. 196,000 USD
About the role Muon is looking for a Senior Software Engineer (Back-end) to join our Ground Software team. The ideal candidate is a self-motivated and versatile software engineer who is excited to build our cloud infrast…