Engineering Manager, Mission Mechanical

Socket.dev; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 186,000 - 202,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity compensation

Medical, dental, and vision insurance

401k retirement plan

Short & long term disability and life

Three weeks paid vacation

12 paid holidays

Unlimited sick time

Paid parental leave

Job summary

Muon Space in San Jose seeks an Engineering Manager to lead a team of mechanical engineers tailoring spacecraft platforms. You’ll split time between management and hands‑on design, reviews, and ensuring high‑reliability delivery.

You’ll drive standards, mentor early-career engineers, and collaborate with cross‑functional teams to translate customer needs into robust flight hardware.

Qualifications

• 8+ years designing complex integrated systems for harsh environments.
• 2+ years leading engineering teams.
• Track record delivering hardware to the field.
• Ability to switch between hands‑on design and leadership.
• CAD proficiency, SolidWorks preferred.
• Mastery of drawings, GD&T, BOMs, FAIs, tolerances & mass budgets; ECO/DCO savvy.
• Experience with structural/thermal analysis integration.
• Strong leadership, communication, and presentation skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor, and grow a mechanical engineering team across missions.
• Own mechanical deliverables from requirements to test readiness.
• Contribute designs, drawings, and analyses alongside the team.
• Translate customer needs into robust flight hardware with reuse.
• Set engineering standards for safety, materials, PLM and docs.
• Run design reviews and test readiness reviews for campaigns.
• Collaborate with avionics, systems, thermal, structural, and production teams.
• Plan resourcing and hire as the team scales.

Skills

Leadership

Mechanical design

SolidWorks

GD&T

Systems integration

Communication

Mentoring

Education

Bachelor's in Mechanical Engineering

Tools

PLM

FEM

Job description

About the role

Muon 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

Salary

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.

About Muon Space

Founded in 2021, Muon Space is an end‑to‑end Space Systems Provider that designs, builds, and operates LEO satellite constellations delivering mission‑critical data. Our revolutionary, integrated technology stack enables customers to optimize every dimension of their missions for faster time‑to‑orbit and superior constellation remote sensing performance. Our state‑of‑the‑art facility in the heart of Silicon Valley is optimized for manufacturing spacecraft and rapid, flexible payload integration at scale. From climate monitoring to national security, Muon Space is dedicated to delivering Earth Intelligence for a safer and more resilient world.

Taking Care of Our Team

In addition to salary, full‑time employees receive equity compensation as well as benefits including medical, dental, and vision insurance, a 401k retirement plan, short & long term disability and life insurance.

• 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

Our mission embraces the entire planet and we believe our team should too.

Muon is dedicated to creating a diverse and dynamic company and workforce.

We believe in equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, age, national origin, citizenship, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, or gender identity. We value diversity in the workplace, and that starts with our applicants.

If you need a reasonable accommodation as part of your application for employment or interviews with us, please let us know.

ITAR/EAR Requirements

This position requires access to export controlled information. To conform to U.S. Government export regulations applicable to that information, applicant must either be (A) a U.S. person, defined as a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (green card holder), (iii) refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, (B) eligible to access the export controlled information without a required export authorization, or (C) eligible and reasonably likely to obtain the required export authorization from the applicable U.S. government agency. The Company may, for legitimate business reasons, decline to pursue any export licensing process.