Senior Mechanical Engineer - Spacecraft Instrument Mechanisms

Muon Space•Mountain View, CA

4h•$183,000 - $198,000•Onsite

About The Position

Muon seeks a Senior Mechanical Engineer to serve as a hardware expert in the design of instrument mechanisms. You’ll own the mechanical direction of the instrument mechanical subsystems from requirements definition to installation on the launch vehicle. This will include direct collaboration with Muon’s engineering and instrument teams to understand requirements, execute designs, deliver robust hardware, pulling in relevant stakeholders (such as structural, thermal, electrical, etc) at the appropriate times to deliver a satellite on-time. The ideal candidate is a self-motivated engineer with a versatile skill set who is comfortable working across many layers of technical depth from individual components through system level. Previous experience with scanners/rotating instrument systems, thermal vacuum and vibration testing, and collaborating with engineering teams to refine designs for manufacturing and assembly processes is preferred. Being an early-stage startup with a small team, breadth is extremely important and we expect this person to dive into structural analysis, dynamics, thermal design, supplier management, and everything else associated with the full lifecycle of an electromechanical product. This position has significant lab and hands-on work and will be located at our office in Mountain View, CA.

Requirements

8+ years of experience designing, building, and testing high reliability hardware
B.S. or higher in Mechanical Engineering or related field
Proficiency in CAD (SolidWorks preferred) for component and assembly design
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
Experience technically leading or managing a small team of engineers and/or technicians
Extensive documentation capabilities: build procedures, test plans, design trades, DOEs
Experience managing external vendors for part prototyping and development
Experience with root cause analysis efforts including data analysis and testing.
Excellent communication, presentation, and cross-functional coordination skills
Experience with system integration and delivery of complex hardware/software systems.
Excited to work in a fast-paced environment with new challenges each week.

Nice To Haves

Flight heritage—hardware you designed that has successfully operated in space
Experience optimizing and maturing existing designs (not only clean-sheet development)
Familiarity with satellite payloads and mission-level mechanical integration
Experience with deployable hardware (solar arrays, antennas, mechanisms)
Experience with ADCS components: reaction wheels, torque rods, star trackers
Experience running structural analyses (FEMAP, ANSYS) & environmental testing
Experience with thermal management systems for spacecraft
Large assembly management in SolidWorks PDM; experience with PLM systems (Duro or similar)
Software skills in Python, MATLAB, or similar
Project management experience: customer reviews, Gantt charts, risk tracking
Experience qualifying external vendors and contract manufacturers
Experience with optomechanical subsystem for IR or microwave instrumentation
Experience working in cleanroom environments.

Responsibilities

Have a deep understanding of Muon’s spacecraft platforms & capabilities. Tailor and develop components to these platforms to meet mission needs.
Own moving mechanism assemblies, including design and analysis, component sizing, subsystem assembly, performance characterization, and lifetime testing.
Own Design for Manufacturing/Assembly (DFM/DFA) efforts to support continuous improvement and volume production.
Create, analyze, and refine mechanism mechanical designs in SolidWorks.
Support control algorithm development and tuning, in collaboration with cross-functional teams.
Contribute to the continuous development of best practices, processes, tools, and methodologies to enhance efficiency and effectiveness in mechanisms development.
Write new documentation and build procedures unique to the mission. Lead mechanical portion of both internal and external design reviews.
Support subsystem-level environmental testing campaigns including environmental (vibration, thermal-vacuum (TVAC) testing) and system characterization.
Interface and collaborate with structural, thermal, instrument and spacecraft systems engineers, AI&T and production teams, and program managers.