Senior Mechanical Engineer - Spacecraft Mission Mechanical Lead San Jose, CA

Muon seeks a Senior 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 data, dynamics, thermal design, supplier management and everything else associated with the full lifecycle of an electromechanical product.

Due to the hands‑on nature of this role, on‑site work at our San Jose, CA location is required.

Responsibilities

• Create, review, and refine spacecraft mechanical design with product structure in a modern CAD package (Solidworks)
• Ownership of delivery of mechanical vehicles and subsystems, acting on multidisciplinary designs between launch provider, analysts, avionics, program, thermal, optical, and RF engineers
• Find solutions and manage development of clean‑sheet mechanical / structures architectures through detailed design consistent with the risk posture, development velocity and deployment schedules at Muon
• Make economically sound choices for the company balancing the need to quickly demonstrate capability while understanding the path to scaled‑up constellations (e.g Make vs Buy).
• Create quick concepts that can be used to discuss and spur inspiration on the team in early phases of programs.
• Perform basic stress and dynamic analyses (hand calcs, simple FEM) to support and inform structures designs including joint design, basic stiffness analyses, etc.
• Contribute to maturing Muon’s mechanical engineering standards and culture
• Design basic test fixtures to support development and environmental testing
• Influence flight designs to ensure hardware is easy to both build and test

Qualifications

• 6+ years experience designing/building/testing flight hardware in the Space industry, or similar in Aero, Self Driving, etc.
• A desire to change the way the world understands and reacts to climate and environmental data
• B.S. or higher degree in Mechanical Engineering
• Some experience as an individual contributor structural/mechanical engineer
• Design of components and assemblies in CAD
• Understanding of drawings, GTOLs, and BOMs
• Dedication to drawing conclusions on the most important factors and data
• Excited to work in a fast‑paced environment with new opportunities each week

Nice‑to‑have Skills

• Experience with solar arrays, SADAs, composite materials
• Experience designing and executing structural tests for spacecraft
• Large assembly management in Solidworks PDM, Duro PLM
• Google workspace; Sheets, Slides, Docs. Slack
• Mechanical management of a product or system
• Experience running structural analyses for spacecraft (FEMAP, ANSYS)
• Experience managing external vendors for part prototyping and development
• Software skills in one or more of Python, Matlab, C, C++
• Experience working on thermal management systems for spacecraft
• Shipped hardware designed for spacecraft, aircraft, automotive or similar environments

The salary range for this role is $181,000 - $202,000 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.

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.

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.