Muon Space · 1 day ago
Staff Mechanical Engineer - Complex Mission Mechanical Lead
San Jose, CA
Full-time
Onsite
Lead/Staff
$201K/yr - $223K/yr
10+ years expMuon Space is an end-to-end Space Systems Provider that designs, builds, and operates LEO satellite constellations delivering mission-critical data. They are seeking a Staff Mechanical Engineer to lead the mechanical architecture and design direction for complex spacecraft missions, ensuring scalable mechanical systems and engaging directly with customers to translate mission requirements into technical solutions.
AerospaceInformation ServicesInformation Technology
No H1B
U.S. Citizen Only
Responsibilities
Serve as the Complex Mission Mechanical Lead for a spacecraft class, owning the mechanical architecture and design direction, balancing the needs of multiple concurrent and future missions
Define and maintain the mechanical design envelope, interfaces, and configuration control strategy
Lead spacecraft evolution initiatives to improve performance, reduce mass, lower cost, and enhance manufacturability across the product line
Create and maintain mechanical roadmaps with 1-year+ horizons, anticipating future mission needs and proactively driving platform improvements
Ensure mechanical systems are designed for scalability—from prototype builds to constellation quantities
Work directly with customers to understand mission requirements and translate capabilities into compelling technical solutions
Contribute mechanical engineering content to proposals, meetings, and reviews, including technical approaches, mass/power budgets, and compliance matrices
Partner with Business Development to identify platform enhancement opportunities driven by customer needs
Serve as the definitive technical authority and domain expert for your platform's mechanical systems
Apply extensive space industry experience and flight heritage to optimize and mature mechanical designs
Use lessons learned from builds, tests, and on-orbit operations to identify design improvements and risk reduction opportunities across the platform
Define, document, and champion mechanical engineering best practices, design standards, and guidelines that scale across the organization
Establish and improve processes for design reviews, documentation, and engineering rigor
Refine testing protocols to ensure adequate coverage while minimizing effort
Act as a force multiplier by providing strong, hands-on mentorship to mechanical engineers at all levels, developing their technical skills and systems-level thinking
Lead rigorous design reviews (PDR, CDR, MRR), providing constructive feedback that elevates the quality of engineering work across the team
Guide and coach team members on first-principles problem solving and cross-domain execution
Hire, onboard, and manage a small team of mechanical engineers, if needed
Apply first-principles engineering to solve complex mechanical design challenges, going beyond established approaches when needed
Lead the design, analysis, and optimization of spacecraft structures, mechanisms, and mechanical subsystems
Perform and/or manage stress, dynamic, and thermal analyses including joint design, stiffness analyses, and mass optimization
Work with structural and thermal analysts to iterate and refine designs for performance and manufacturability
Make economically sound make vs. buy decisions, balancing rapid capability demonstration with constellation scale-up requirements
Own delivery of mechanical systems, coordinating multidisciplinary efforts between analysts, avionics, thermal, optical, RF, and program teams
Lead and improve environmental test campaigns (vibration, TVAC, EMI), applying lessons learned from prior flight programs
Influence design decisions to ensure hardware is optimized for both build efficiency and test effectiveness
Drive products to scale from prototype builds to quantities of hundreds
Qualification
Required
10+ years of experience designing, building, and testing flight hardware in the space industry
Demonstrated flight heritage—hardware you designed that has successfully operated in space
Proven track record of optimizing and maturing existing designs, not just clean-sheet development
Experience owning or significantly contributing to a spacecraft platform, product line, or major subsystem across multiple missions
Strong first-principles engineering approach with demonstrated ability to solve complex problems from fundamentals
Customer-facing experience: technical interchanges, requirements discussions, proposal contributions, or similar
Demonstrated mentorship experience with success in developing junior and mid-level engineers
Experience leading or technically guiding teams of engineers and/or technicians
Deep competence in one or more of: structural mechanics and analysis, thermal management and modeling, environmental testing (TVAC, vibration)
Strong systems-level thinking with understanding of cross-domain interplay (mechanical, thermal, structural, systems)
Extensive documentation capabilities: build procedures, test plans, design trades, best practices guides
Mastery of standard tools: CAD (SolidWorks preferred), PLM, ERP, FEA, test hardware and equipment
Expert-level skills with drawings, GD&T, BOMs, FAIs, tolerance budgets, and mass budgets
Experience managing external vendors for part development and manufacturing
Excellent communication, presentation, and cross-functional coordination skills
B.S. or higher in Mechanical Engineering or related field
A desire to change the way the world understands and reacts to climate and environmental data
Preferred
Experience as a platform owner, product owner, or product-line technical lead at a space company
Direct experience contributing to winning proposals (technical volumes, orals, customer Q&A)
Experience establishing engineering standards and best practices at a departmental or organizational level
Prior Staff or Lead Engineer title at a space company
Experience with deployable structures (solar arrays, antennas, mechanisms)
Optomechanical instrument or payload design experience
Experience with reaction wheels, torque rods, star trackers, or other ADCS components
Large assembly management in SolidWorks PDM, Duro, or similar PLM
Experience running structural analyses (FEMAP, ANSYS)
Software skills in Python, MATLAB, or similar
Experience qualifying external vendors and contract manufacturers
Track record of mentoring engineers who have grown into senior roles
Benefits
Equity compensation
Medical, dental, and vision insurance
401k retirement plan
Short & long term disability and life insurance
Three weeks paid vacation for new employees
12 paid holidays
Unlimited sick time
Paid parental leave
Company
Muon Space
Muon Space is a space systems company that designs, builds, and operates LEO satellite constellations for earth intelligence missions.
51-200 employees
Funding
Current Stage
Growth StageTotal Funding
$225.8MKey Investors
United States Space ForceCongruent VenturesActivate Capital Partners
2025-10-08Grant· $44.6M
2025-06-12Series B· $44.5M
2025-06-12Debt Financing· $45M
Leadership Team
Jonathan Dyer
CEO
Dan McCleese
Co-Founder & Chief Scientist
Recent News
Business Insider
2025-12-25
Company data provided by crunchbase