Engineering Manager, Mission Mechanical

Muon seeks an Engineering Manager to lead a team of mechanical engineers who tailor Muon's spacecraft platforms to specific missions. Starting from 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.

About the role

You will 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

Requirements

• 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

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

Pay

The 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.

Benefits

• 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

ITAR/EAR Requirements: This position requires access to export controlled information. Applicant must be a U.S. person (U.S. citizen, national, lawful permanent resident, refugee, or asylee), eligible to access the information without required export authorization, or eligible and reasonably likely to obtain the required export authorization from the applicable U.S. government agency.