Senior EO/IR Payloads Systems Engineer

Climactic; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 181,000 - 208,000; Full time

Job summary

Muon Space is seeking a Senior Systems Engineer for EO/IR Payloads in the Washington DC area. You will drive the technical exploration of payload concepts, develop system requirements, build advanced simulations, and enable new imaging modes for early-stage missions.

This role requires strong cross-functional collaboration across engineering, product, and business teams, plus the ability to communicate complex analyses clearly to stakeholders.

Qualifications

• BS/MS/PhD in engineering, physics, or optical sciences.
• 5+ years as a systems or instrument engineer in EO/IR.
• Experience in infrared, multispectral, hyperspectral sensing.
• Experience on EO/IR space missions (govt/commercial).
• Proficiency in modeling/simulation/analysis.
• Programming in Python and/or MATLAB for modeling.
• Ability to communicate complex technical information to cross-functional teams and customers.
• Eligible for TS/SCI clearance (preferred).

Responsibilities

• Conceptualize, analyze, demonstrate, and experiment with new EO/IR payload concepts.
• Develop system and payload requirements; build simulations and models.
• Identify novel imaging modes and use cases for stakeholders.
• Lead early-stage R&D activities as Principal Investigator.
• Collaborate with Product and Applied Science to create rigorous architectures and demos.
• Evaluate technical trades, radiometric models, and budgets for early concepts.
• Perform feasibility studies and literature reviews for missions and instruments.
• Support customer discovery, capability demos, and proposal development.
• Contribute to technical proposals and white papers to show differentiation.

Skills

EO/IR payload engineering

Systems engineering

Modeling & analysis

Python

MATLAB

Julia

Communication

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

B.S./M.S./Ph.D. in engineering or physics

Job description

Muon Space is seeking a Senior Systems Engineer for EO/IR Payloads in the Washington DC area. You will drive the technical exploration of payload concepts, develop system requirements, build advanced simulations, and enable new imaging modes for early-stage missions.

This role requires strong cross-functional collaboration across engineering, product, and business teams, plus the ability to communicate complex analyses clearly to stakeholders.