Senior Instrument Systems Engineer

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. 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. This role will be a key member of the instrument engineering team, driving development from concept through on-orbit operations for our national security missions. 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/flowdown and verification and validation (V&V) planning.
• Develop and manage technical budgets, including mass, power, thermal, line-of-sight pointing/jitter, and data volume, to ensure adequate margins throughout development.
• Develop comprehensive interface control documents (ICDs) across mechanical, thermal, electrical, and software interfaces, to drive a modular instrument architecture.
• Support optical instrument assembly, integration, and test (AI&T) planning and implementation, including collaboration with cross-functional teams.
• Champion the continuous improvement of systems engineering methodologies, tools, and best practices to enhance overall efficiency in instrument development.
• Collaborate and communicate effectively with subsystem engineers and analysts, instrument and spacecraft systems engineers, AI&T and production teams, program managers, external partner teams, and other stakeholders.
• This position participates in a 24/7 on-call rotation to support on-orbit anomaly resolution. The on-call rotation is approximately one week per month.

Qualifications

• B.S, M.S., or Ph.D. in an engineering field, or equivalent experience.
• 5+ years of experience working in a multi-disciplinary environment, with exposure to imaging systems, infrared remote sensing instruments, and spacecraft.
• Software skills in one or more languages (e.g. Python, Julia).
• Experience with root cause analysis efforts including data analysis and testing.
• Experience performing data analysis, post-processing, and test report generation.
• Excellent communication, presentation, and organization skills.
• Excited to work in a fast-paced environment with new challenges each week.
• 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 (thermal stress screening, TVAC, random vibration), integrated spacecraft testing, and launch campaigns.
• Experience working in cleanroom environments.

Salary

The salary range for this role is $166,000 to $223,000, plus a competitive equity grant and comprehensive benefits package. Final compensation will be determined based on skills, qualifications, experience, and geographic location as assessed during the interview process.