Senior Mechanical Engineer, Solar Deployables

Muonspace; San Jose (CA); Hybrid; USD 183,000 - 198,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, and vision insurance

401k retirement plan

Disability and life insurance

Paid vacation and holidays

Job summary

Muon Space is seeking a Senior Mechanical Engineer to design deployable structures for solar arrays and own the structural, dynamic, and thermoelastic analyses to prove robustness from prototype to production. You will collaborate with mechanisms and photovoltaics leads and partner with the structural analysis group on critical interfaces with the spacecraft bus.

The role is hybrid, requiring on-site work in San Jose, CA three days per week, and involves developing design practices for scalable

Qualifications

• 8+ years in high-reliability hardware design and testing with 5+ years in structural analysis.
• Proven track record designing precision mechanical or deployable hardware from concept through qualification.
• Strong command of structural FEA for static, modal, and random vibration (FEMAP/NASTRAN, ANSYS)
• Experience analyzing deployment dynamics and mechanism margins (torque/force, kinematics)
• Demonstrated ability to correlate analysis models to test data (modal surveys, vibration, deployment)
• Expert-level CAD skills (SolidWorks) with GD&T and tolerance/mass budgeting
• Working understanding of environmental testing (vibration, TVAC, shock)
• Bachelor’s degree 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 cross-group analyses.
• Perform structural FEA — static, modal, random vibration — and analyze deployment dynamics and margins
• Collaborate with the structural analysis group to manage interactions between solar arrays and spacecraft bus
• Build and test prototypes; support deployment testing with gravity offload and environmental tests (vibration, TVAC, shock)
• Correlate analysis models to test data and iterate designs accordingly
• Produce and release engineering documentation: drawings, GD&T, BOMs, and analysis reports under configuration control
• Deliver design and analysis packages for PDR/CDR/MRR reviews with clear margin/basing discussions
• Support designs from prototype to constellation-scale production

Skills

Strong design skills

Deep analysis background

Excellent communication

Cross-functional collaboration

Hands-on prototyping

Education

B.S. in Mechanical/Aerospace Engineering

Tools

FEMAP/NASTRAN

ANSYS

SolidWorks

Job description

Muon Space is seeking a Senior Mechanical Engineer to design deployable structures for solar arrays and own the structural, dynamic, and thermoelastic analyses to prove robustness from prototype to production. You will collaborate with mechanisms and photovoltaics leads and partner with the structural analysis group on critical interfaces with the spacecraft bus.

The role is hybrid, requiring on-site work in San Jose, CA three days per week, and involves developing design practices for scalable