Senior Instrument Systems Engineer Verified today

About the role

Muon seeks a Senior Instrument Systems Engineer to join our team in Mountain View, CA or remote, with a focus on infrared remote sensing instruments. You will be a key member of the instrument engineering team, driving development from concept through on-orbit operations for national security missions.

The ideal candidate is a self-motivated engineer with a versatile skill set, comfortable working across many layers of technical depth from individual components through system level. Previous experience developing and operating infrared electro-optical systems, remote sensing instruments, and test infrastructure in fast-paced and small-team environments is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Lead instrument architecture trades, define concept of operations, own radiometric model and throughput budget, drive requirements decomposition and flowdown, and plan verification and validation.
• Develop and manage technical budgets including mass, power, thermal, line-of-sight pointing and jitter, and data volume to ensure adequate margins throughout development.
• Develop comprehensive interface control documents across mechanical, thermal, electrical, and software interfaces to drive a modular instrument architecture.
• Support optical instrument assembly, integration, and test planning and implementation in collaboration with cross-functional teams.
• Champion continuous improvement of systems engineering methodologies, tools, and best practices to enhance efficiency in instrument development.
• Collaborate effectively with subsystem engineers, analysts, instrument and spacecraft systems engineers, assembly/integration/test and production teams, program managers, external partners, and other stakeholders.
• Participate in a 24/7 on-call rotation to support on-orbit anomaly resolution, approximately one week per month.

Qualifications

• B.S., M.S., or Ph.D. in an engineering field, or equivalent experience.
• 5 or more years of experience in a multi-disciplinary environment with exposure to imaging systems, infrared remote sensing instruments, and spacecraft.
• Software skills in one or more languages such as Python or Julia.
• Experience with root cause analysis including data analysis and testing.
• Experience performing data analysis, post-processing, and test report generation.
• Excellent communication, presentation, and organization skills.
• Ability to obtain TS/SCI security clearance required; active clearance strongly preferred.

Nice-to-have Skills

• Experience integrating and interpreting STOP analysis results to drive instrument design trades and error budget allocations.
• Experience working hands-on with precision optical and mechanical metrology equipment.
• Experience supporting environmental testing such as thermal stress screening, TVAC, and random vibration, integrated spacecraft testing, and launch campaigns.
• Experience working in cleanroom environments.

Compensation and Benefits

Salary range: $166,000 to $223,000, plus a competitive equity grant and comprehensive benefits package. Final compensation determined based on skills, qualifications, experience, and geographic location.

Full-time employees receive medical, dental, and vision insurance, 401k retirement plan, short and long term disability and life insurance, three weeks paid vacation for new employees, 12 paid holidays, unlimited sick time, and paid parental leave.

ITAR/EAR Requirements

This position requires access to export-controlled information. Applicant must either be a U.S. person (U.S. citizen or national, U.S. lawful permanent resident, refugee, or asylee), eligible to access export-controlled information without required export authorization, or eligible and reasonably likely to obtain required export authorization from the applicable U.S. government agency.