Senior Mechanical Engineer, Spacecraft Mechanisms

Climactic; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 202,000 - 223,000; Full time

Job summary

Muon Space is hiring a Staff Mechanical Engineer to own spacecraft mechanisms, qualification, and margins across missions. The role requires hands-on, onsite work at our San Jose location, collaborating with structural, thermal, electrical, and systems teams to deliver robust hardware.

You will lead mechanical design, documentation, and environmental testing, while mentoring engineers and shaping standard practices across Muon Space.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience designing, building, and testing high-reliability hardware.
• B.S. or higher in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or related field.
• Proficiency in CAD (SolidWorks preferred) for medium-to-large assembly design and management.
• Mastery of drawings, GD&T, BOMs, FAIs, tolerance budgets, and mass budgets.
• Experience with ECO/DCO processes and PLM systems.
• Demonstrated proficiency leading mechanical design for complex electromechanical systems.
• Extensive documentation capabilities: build procedures, test plans, design trades, DOEs.
• Experience managing external vendors for part prototyping and development.
• Excellent communication, presentation, and cross-functional coordination skills.
• Strong mentorship skills.
• Demonstrated experience creating technical documents (ESOW, Technical Specification, DFMEA, Test Verification Plan).
• Experience owning a components used across platform, product line, or major subsystems.
• Recognized depth in a specialty with industry references.
• Customer-facing experience: technical interchanges, requirements discussions, or proposal contributions.

Responsibilities

• Own the mechanical direction of spacecraft components or mechanisms from requirements through launch-vehicle integration.
• Create, analyze, and refine mechanical designs in SolidWorks; tailor platform components and design new ones as needed.
• Perform sizing (structural, dynamic, thermal) and work with analysis teams on correlation.
• Make make-vs-buy decisions balancing rapid demos with production readiness.
• Lead mechanical design reviews (PDR, CDR, MRR) and environmental test campaigns.
• Produce and release drawings, GD&T, BOMs, tolerance budgets, and build procedures under configuration control.
• Contribute to Muon’s mechanical standards, tools, and culture.
• Own mechanical architecture for usage across platform/satellite class and multiple missions.
• Engage with stakeholders and launch providers on interfaces, margins, and acceptance criteria.
• Define and champion mechanical design standards and review processes across the org.
• Mentor engineers and chair design reviews.

Skills

SolidWorks CAD

GD&T

BOMs & FAIs

ECODCO & PLM

Mechanical design leadership

Documentation skills

Vendor management

Cross-functional coordination

Prototyping experience

Systems mindset

Education

B.S. or higher in Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering

Tools

FEMAP/ANSYS/NASTRAN

SolidWorks

Job description

Muon Space is hiring a Staff Mechanical Engineer to own spacecraft mechanisms, qualification, and margins across missions. The role requires hands-on, onsite work at our San Jose location, collaborating with structural, thermal, electrical, and systems teams to deliver robust hardware.

You will lead mechanical design, documentation, and environmental testing, while mentoring engineers and shaping standard practices across Muon Space.