About the roleMuon 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 payload accommodations and mission-specific components, and carries each spacecraft's mechanical build through integration and environmental test.
This is a hands-on role, split roughly evenly between management and individual contribution: you'll manage and develop your team while staying technically engaged - contributing designs, running design reviews, unblocking the team, and setting the quality bar. The role reports to the Senior Manager of Spacecraft Structures & Missions.
This position is hybrid and requires working on-site in our San Jose, CA office three days per week.
Responsibilities- Lead, mentor, and grow a team of mechanical engineers customizing Muon's spacecraft platforms for specific missions; plan resourcing across concurrent missions and hire as the team scales
- Invest in developing early-career engineers through coaching, design feedback, and growth planning
- Own the mechanical deliverables for assigned missions - from requirements through design, build, integration, and environmental test - ensuring on-time, high-reliability delivery
- Stay hands-on: contribute designs, drawings, and analyses alongside the team, setting the standard you expect
- Work with mission formulation and systems teams to translate customer needs into robust flight hardware, reusing common platform components where possible and developing new ones where needed
- Set and uphold engineering standards for the team - factors of safety, make vs. buy, materials, PLM process, and documentation
- Run design reviews and test readiness reviews; collaborate on test plans consistent with each mission's risk posture and own the outcome of test campaigns
- Partner with avionics, systems, thermal, structural, and production teams to optimize designs for performance, reliability, and manufacturability
Required Qualifications- 8+ years of experience designing complex, integrated systems that operate in harsh environments (spacecraft, aviation, automotive, robotics, or similar)
- 2+ years managing or technically leading engineering teams
- Track record of delivering hardware products to the field
- Ability to move fluidly between hands-on engineering and team leadership in a fast-paced environment
- Proficiency in CAD for medium-to-large assembly design and management (SolidWorks preferred)
- Mastery of drawings, GD&T, BOMs, FAIs, tolerance budgets, and mass budgets; diligence with ECO/DCO processes
- Experience managing analysis products (structural, thermal) and incorporating results into design
- Excellent leadership, communication, and presentation skills
- B.S. or higher in Mechanical Engineering or related field
Nice-to-have Skills- Experience managing or mentoring spacecraft design teams
- Experience running full environmental test campaigns (vibration, TVAC) on satellites or launch vehicles
- Experience with risk-management processes and matching risk tolerance to design requirements
- Project management experience: customer reviews, schedules, risk tracking
- Experience developing early-career engineers into independent contributors
SalaryThe salary range for this role is $186,000 - $202,000, 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.
