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Senior Systems Engineer, Mission Platforms Verified today

Muon Space · San Jose, CA · Space Systems · first seen 2026-08-07
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About the role

Muon seeks a Senior Systems Engineer, Mission Platforms to join the Mission Engineering team. You will serve as the lead systems engineer for the end-to-end mission capability baseline for Muon's scalable mission platforms, taking a holistic "Outside-In" systems integration view across hardware, flight software, ground segment, and mission operations.

You will assemble the building blocks of the Muon Mission Foundry to enable families of missions, translating them into unified baselines. Upstream, you will coordinate with Business Development and Mission Architecture to inform the platform baseline with emerging mission opportunities. Downstream, you will partner directly with Spacecraft Platform leads, Flight Software Architect, Ground Software Architect, and Operations teams, acting as connective tissue across the entire mission stack. You will maintain strategic awareness of product roadmaps spanning Power, GNC, Instruments, Propulsion, and Avionics to ensure seamless integration. You will establish comprehensive baselines of end-to-end mission performance to enable Mission Lead Systems Engineers to focus on mission-specific deltas rather than reinventing core architecture.

Muon is a lean, agile team. Success requires your ability to right-size analysis and processes for differing levels of system maturity and risk, flexibility with changing demands and schedules, and effective communication of technical content to diverse audiences.

Responsibilities

  • Lead definition and integration of the holistic mission platform baseline, ensuring the system meets all operational requirements across hardware, software, payloads, and mission operations.
  • Partner with Business Development and Product Management to define end-to-end technical roadmaps for spacecraft platform families.
  • Establish, document, and release standardized capability baselines for platforms, packaging integrated solutions (HW + SW + Ops) so MLSEs can seamlessly inherit them.
  • Act as strategic integration peer to key domain leads including Spacecraft Platform team, FSW Architect, GSW Architect, and Operations Managers. Manage integrated end-to-end mission system requirements while partnering with domain experts.
  • Execute system-level simulation and analysis, often integrated into V&V campaigns, to ensure resource budgets close and rolled-up system performance meets platform specifications.
  • Maintain deep situational awareness across all avionics and subsystem roadmaps, ensuring capabilities are delivered on timelines required to meet the operational platform baseline.
  • Own platform level requirements, V&V, and performance baselines that serve as the foundational starting point for every mission, maximizing commonality across the fleet.
  • Shape robust fault management architectures and operational concepts to reduce operator toil and ensure SLA requirements are met at scale.
  • Ensure platform baseline closes the loop end-to-end across the space-to-ground data pipeline, from onboard command and data handling (CDH), storage, and downlink prioritization, through ground ingest, processing, and delivery, so data latency and integrity requirements are met.
  • Champion a platform/product line first mindset across the organization, driving trades on what belongs in the baseline versus mission-specific options.
  • Drive systems standardization across the Muon Foundry by creating reusable requirements, specifications, and standardized documentation for the entire spacecraft fleet.

Qualifications

  • M.S. or higher degree in an engineering field plus 6 or more years of experience working in a multi-disciplinary environment, preferably with exposure to spacecraft systems, payload integration, and mission operations.
  • Prior experience moving organizations from custom, one-off engineering projects toward standardized, product-line engineering and reusable architectures.
  • Extensive experience in AI&T workflows and V&V strategies, balancing technical risk with agile business constraints.
  • Proven ability to drive alignment across highly senior, cross-functional stakeholders without direct reporting lines.
  • Deep understanding of space vehicle dynamic behavior, fault management, and what it takes to actually fly and operate a spacecraft to meet strict SLAs.
  • Proven history of system integration and delivery of complex, software-intensive systems.
  • Excellent communication, presentation, and coordination skills.
  • Ability to rapidly change roles and responsibilities while working in a high-paced, rewarding work environment.

Nice-to-have Skills

  • Experience as a lead systems engineer or technical stakeholder in an agile environment.
  • Software skills in Python or Julia.
  • Remote sensing instrument experience across multiple modalities (optical, multispectral, RF) and their associated data pipelines.
  • Strong working knowledge of end-to-end space-to-ground data pipeline, including spacecraft command and data handling (CDH), onboard data management, downlink prioritization, and interface to downstream data processing pipelines.
  • Familiarity with requirements management, systems modeling tools, and software engineering processes.

Compensation

Salary range: $201,000 to $220,000, plus competitive equity grant and comprehensive benefits package. Final compensation based on skills, qualifications, experience, and geographic location.

Benefits

Full-time employees receive equity compensation, 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) a U.S. person (U.S. citizen or national, U.S. lawful permanent resident, refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158), (B) eligible to access export controlled information without required export authorization, or (C) eligible and reasonably likely to obtain required export authorization from the applicable U.S. government agency.