Senior Mechanical Engineer - Solar Deployables

Socket.dev; San Jose (CA); Hybrid; USD 183,000 - 198,000; Full time

Job summary

Muon Space in Silicon Valley is seeking a Senior Mechanical Engineer to design deployable structures for our solar arrays. You will own structural, dynamic, and thermoelastic analyses to prove margins and performance from prototype through constellation-scale production.

Ideal candidates bring 8+ years in high-reliability hardware with 5+ years in structural analysis, expert CAD skills (SolidWorks), and proficiency in FEMAP/NASTRAN or ANSYS.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience designing, building, and testing high-reliability hardware, including 5+ years of structural analysis.
• Proven track record designing precision mechanical or deployable hardware from concept through qualification.
• Strong command of structural FEA — static, modal, and random vibration.
• Expert-level CAD skills with mastery of drawings, GD&T, and tolerance/mass budgets.
• Working understanding of environmental testing (vibration, TVAC, shock).
• Excellent communication and documentation skills, including analysis reports and margin summaries.
• B.S. or higher in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or related field.

Responsibilities

• Design deployable structures and supporting hardware for Muon's solar arrays from concept through qualification.
• Own the structural, dynamic, and thermoelastic analyses of your designs and support analysis across the group.
• Perform structural FEA — static, modal, random vibration, and shock — and analyze deployment dynamics and margins.
• Collaborate with the structural analysis group to manage interactions between arrays and the spacecraft bus.
• Build and test prototypes; support deployment testing with vibration, TVAC, and shock.
• Correlate analysis models to test data and iterate designs based on results.
• Produce and release engineering documentation: drawings, GD&T, BOMs, and analysis reports under configuration control.
• Deliver design and analysis packages for PDR/CDR/MRR and document methods, margins, and best practices.
• Support designs from prototype to constellation-scale production.

Skills

Mechanical design experience

Structural FEA

Deployable hardware design

Team collaboration

Education

B.S. or higher in Mechanical Engineering or Aerospace Engineering

Tools

FEMAP/NASTRAN

ANSYS

SolidWorks

Job description

Muon Space in Silicon Valley is seeking a Senior Mechanical Engineer to design deployable structures for our solar arrays. You will own structural, dynamic, and thermoelastic analyses to prove margins and performance from prototype through constellation-scale production.

Ideal candidates bring 8+ years in high-reliability hardware with 5+ years in structural analysis, expert CAD skills (SolidWorks), and proficiency in FEMAP/NASTRAN or ANSYS.