Staff Mechanical Engineer - Spacecraft Components

About the role

Muon seeks a Staff Mechanical Engineer to be a technical owner for spacecraft mechanisms and components design; own single-point-failure management (margin, redundancy, test coverage); own component qualification (deployment, life, and environmental testing). The ideal candidate can go deep on design while carrying a "systems mindset" — a force multiplier who collaborates across disciplines to arrive at an elegant, well-balanced design. You'll start from Muon's platform building blocks, tailor and design hardware to meet mission needs, and pull in the right stakeholders (structural, thermal, electrical, systems) at the right times to deliver on time. Being an early-stage company with small teams, breadth is essential: you'll have touch points across engineering, production, and program management.

As a staff engineer you'll own strategy spanning multiple subsystems. You'll set platform-level mechanical architecture, define complex complex test campaigns, and own designs across multiple concurrent missions on a six-month-to-year-plus horizon. You'll be the go-to escalation point for the non-routine problems that stump the team.

Due to the hands-on nature of this role, it requires onsite work at our San Jose location 3x days a week.

What you'll do

Own the mechanical direction of your spacecraft component or mechanisms; from requirements definition through design, build, test, and launch-vehicle integration

Create, analyze, and refine mechanical designs in SolidWorks; tailor Muon's platform components and design new components where required

Perform first-order structural, dynamic, and thermal sizing to guide designs; partner with Muon's dedicated structural and thermal analysis groups on detailed analysis and correlation

Make economically sound make-vs-buy decisions, balancing rapid capability demonstration with the path to constellation-scale production

Lead the mechanical portion of internal and external design reviews (PDR, CDR, MRR)

Lead component/subsystem environmental test campaigns (vibration, TVAC, shock) and disposition results

Produce and release engineering documentation: drawings, GD&T, BOMs, tolerance/mass budgets, and build procedures under configuration control (ECO/DCO, PLM)

Contribute to maturing Muon's mechanical engineering standards, tools, and culture

Own the mechanical architecture and design direction of components for usage across platform/satellite class, balancing multiple concurrent and future missions

Engage directly with stakeholders and launch providers on interfaces, environments, margins, and acceptance criteria; contribute mechanical content to proposals.

Define, document, and champion mechanical design standards, review processes, and best practices that scale across the organization

Act as a force multiplier — mentor engineers at all levels, chair design reviews

Required qualifications

10+ years of experience designing, building, and testing high-reliability hardware

B.S. or higher in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related field

Proficiency in CAD (SolidWorks preferred) for medium-to-large assembly design and management

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

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

Strong mentorship skills.

Demonstrated experience creating technical documents (ESOW, Technical Specification, DFMEA, Test Verification Plan)

Experience owning a components used across platform, product line, or major subsystems

Recognized depth in a specialty (e.g., Mechanisms, Composites, or Dynamics) with industry references

Customer-facing experience: technical interchanges, requirements discussions, or proposal contributions

Nice-to-have skills

Flight heritage on the following components: Gimbaled Devices, Separation/Launch Interface, Electrical Modules, Battery Packs, Reaction Wheel, CMG, Magnetorquer, Star Trackers, Propulsion, Radiators, Instrument Packaging, Instrument Scan Mechanisms

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

Familiarity with satellite payloads and mission-level mechanical integration

Experience running structural analyses (FEMAP, ANSYS, NASTRAN) and environmental testing

Experience with thermal management systems for spacecraft

Large-assembly management in SolidWorks PDM; PLM systems (Duro or similar)

Software skills in Python, MATLAB, or similar

Qualifying mechanisms to NASA-STD-5017, ECSS, or equivalent.

Salary

The salary range for this role is $202,000 - $223,000, plus a competitive equity grant and comprehensive benefits package. Final compensation will be determined based on skills, qualifications, experience, and geographic location as assessed during the interview process.