Mechanical Engineer - Spacecraft Components and Systems

Skills

About the Role

You will join Muon's engineering team as a hands-on Mechanical Engineer responsible for the full lifecycle of spacecraft mechanical hardware. You'll create, review, and refine spacecraft component and subsystem designs in SolidWorks, developing clean-sheet mechanical and structural designs and quick concepts to drive early design discussions. You'll perform stress and dynamic analyses, conduct trade studies, and support mass budget tracking and tolerance stack-up analyses. You'll create and maintain build procedures, oversee technicians during assembly and integration, and resolve fit, form, and function issues during hardware builds. You'll design test fixtures and GSE, develop test plans for environmental testing such as vibration, shock, and TVAC, and execute and support test campaigns. You'll maintain engineering drawings with proper GD&T, author design documentation, and manage configuration control through PLM systems. You'll coordinate with analysts, avionics, program, thermal, optical, and RF engineers, work with external vendors, and present design status and test results at design reviews.

Requirements

• 5 years of experience designing, building, and testing flight hardware in the space industry or similar
• B.S. or higher degree in Mechanical Engineering
• Proficiency in CAD (SolidWorks preferred) for component and assembly design
• Experience with engineering drawings, GD&T, BOMs, and ECO processes
• Demonstrated experience executing structural or environmental tests and documenting results
• Hands-on experience supporting hardware builds and integration activities
• Strong documentation skills for build procedures, test plans, and technical reports
• Excellent communication, presentation, and cross-functional coordination skills
• Experience with deployable structures or SADA mechanisms preferred
• Experience running structural analyses (FEMAP, ANSYS, Nastran) preferred
• Experience with thermal management systems for spacecraft preferred
• Experience designing and executing qualification-level environmental tests preferred
• Large assembly management in SolidWorks PDM; experience with PLM systems (Duro or similar) preferred
• Optomechanical instrument or payload design experience preferred
• Experience with composite materials and bonded assemblies preferred
• Experience managing external vendors for part prototyping and development preferred
• Software skills in Python, MATLAB, or similar for data analysis and automation preferred
• Familiarity with FAI processes, non-conformance reporting, and MRB activities preferred
• Google Workspace proficiency (Sheets, Slides, Docs) and Slack preferred

Responsibilities

• Create, review, and refine spacecraft component and subsystem mechanical designs in SolidWorks, managing small-to-medium assemblies
• Develop clean-sheet mechanical and structural designs through detailed design
• Create quick concepts to drive early-phase discussions
• Influence flight designs to optimize hardware for manufacturability, assembly, and testability
• Make economically sound make vs. buy decisions
• Perform stress and dynamic analyses to support structural designs, including joint design, fastener sizing, and stiffness analyses
• Collaborate with structural and thermal analysts to iterate designs for performance and manufacturability
• Conduct trade studies to evaluate design alternatives and document recommendations
• Support mass budget tracking and tolerance stack-up analyses for mechanical assemblies
• Create and maintain build procedures, assembly instructions, and work orders
• Support and oversee technicians during assembly and integration of mechanical components and subsystems
• Identify and resolve fit, form, and function issues during hardware builds
• Drive designs toward producibility across prototype through production quantities
• Conduct first article inspections and document non-conformances; participate in MRB as needed
• Design test fixtures and GSE to support development, qualification, and acceptance testing
• Develop component and subsystem-level test plans and procedures for environmental testing
• Specify and integrate test instrumentation
• Execute and support environmental test campaigns; collect, reduce, and analyze test data
• Document test results and correlate with analysis predictions; recommend design updates
• Create and maintain engineering drawings with proper GD&T, BOMs, and revision control
• Author and maintain design documentation including trade studies and interface control documents
• Execute ECOs/DCOs and maintain configuration control through PLM systems
• Document lessons learned from builds and tests to inform future designs
• Own delivery of mechanical items and subsystems, coordinating with cross-functional teams
• Manage development of mechanical/structural architectures through detailed design
• Coordinate with external vendors for part prototyping and development
• Present design status, trade studies, and test results at design reviews

Benefits

• Equity compensation
• Medical insurance
• Dental insurance
• Vision insurance
• 401k retirement plan
• Short and long term disability insurance
• Life insurance
• Three weeks paid vacation for new employees
• 12 paid holidays
• Unlimited sick time
• Paid parental leave