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Technical Lead- Spacecraft Mechanical Design

Muon Space· Engineering - Hardware
Apply on company site
San Jose, CA$190k - $216kFull-timePosted 2mo ago

About the role

Staff Mechanical Engineer and mechanical design technical lead for a satellite class, owning class-level architecture and mission-specific implementations from requirements through launch integration (typically 10-15 months per mission). onsite at San Jose three days/week.

Responsibilities

  • Own the mechanical architecture and design direction for a satellite class, balancing the needs of multiple concurrent and future missions
  • Serve as mission mechanical lead for specific missions using your satellite class, delivering bus structure, thermal, solar, and payload mechanical solutions from requirements definition through launch vehicle integration
  • Lead the design, analysis, and optimization of spacecraft structures, mechanisms, and mechanical subsystems, applying first-principles engineering to problems beyond established approaches
  • Iterate and evolve the satellite class — improving performance, mass, cost, and manufacturability — and ensure designs scale from prototype builds to constellation quantities
  • Work directly with customers on requirements, technical reviews, and proposal content; partner with Business Development to identify platform enhancement opportunities
  • Define and champion mechanical design standards, review processes, and best practices across the organization
  • Lead design reviews (PDR, CDR, MRR) and environmental test campaigns (vibration, TVAC, EMI)
  • Coordinate multidisciplinary execution across structural, thermal, avionics, optical, RF, and program teams
  • Mentor mechanical engineers at all levels; hire, onboard, and manage a small team as needed

Qualifications

  • 10+ years of experience designing, building, and testing flight hardware in space or other related industry
  • Experience owning a spacecraft platform, product line, or major subsystem across multiple missions or products
  • Proven track record of optimizing and maturing existing designs, not only clean-sheet development
  • Deep competence in one or more of: structural mechanics and analysis, thermal management and modeling, environmental testing (TVAC, vibration)
  • Mastery of drawings, GD&T, BOMs, FAIs, tolerance budgets, and mass budgets; proficiency with CAD (SolidWorks preferred), PLM, and FEA tools
  • Customer-facing experience: technical interchanges, requirements discussions, or proposal contributions
  • Demonstrated success mentoring and technically leading engineers and/or technicians
  • 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

Skills

Required:Mechanical design leadershipStructural analysisThermal managementEnvironmental testingCAD/FEA toolsDrawings and documentationCustomer engagementMentoring

Benefits

  • equity grant
  • comprehensive benefits package including medical, dental, and vision insurance
  • 401k retirement plan
  • short & long term disability and life insurance
  • three weeks paid vacation
  • 12 paid holidays
  • unlimited sick time
  • paid parental leave
Last updated Oct 3, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.

About Muon Space

The Mission Foundry — designing, building, and operating high-performance satellite constellations for National Security, civil, and commercial customers.

Design, build, and operate mission-optimized satellite constellations with Muon Space.

Mission FoundryMission DesignSpacecraft PlatformsPayloads & Data ProductsOrbital AIConstellation ProductionManaged Orbital Services
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