Staff Systems Engineer, Mission Platforms

About the role

Muon seeks a Systems Engineer, Mission Platforms to join our Mission Engineering team. At Muon, we are delivering missions to help understand and act on Earth and climate intelligence. As a Mission Platforms SE you will serve as the primary systems integrator for the end-to-end mission capability baseline for our scalable mission platforms.

Rather than focusing solely on the physical vehicle, you will take a holistic view as the "Outside-In" systems integrator. You will primarily focus on driving our core spacecraft platform roadmaps, translating them into unified baselines that encompass hardware, flight software, ground segment interfaces, and mission operations. To achieve this, you will partner directly with the Hardware Chief Engineer, Flight Software (FSW) Architect, Ground Software (GSW) Architect, and Operations teams, acting as the connective tissue across the entire mission stack to meet Product and Business objectives. While your detailed work will center on the platforms, you will maintain a strategic awareness of our broader ecosystem of product roadmaps - spanning Power, GNC, Instruments, Propulsion, and Avionics - to ensure seamless integration. You will roll up expected performance to establish comprehensive baselines of end-to-end mission performance that directly enable our Mission Lead Systems Engineers (MLSEs) to focus on mission-specific deltas rather than reinventing the core architecture.

Muon is a lean and agile team, so keys to success in this role are your ability to “right-size” analysis and processes for differing levels of system maturity and risk, your flexibility to work with changing demands and schedules, and your effective communication of technical content to a diverse audience.

This position is hybrid and requires working on-site in our San Jose, CA office three days per week.

Responsibilities

• Lead the definition and integration of the holistic mission platform baseline, ensuring the system meets all operational requirements across hardware, software, payloads, and mission operations.  
• Partner directly with Business Development and Product Management to define the end-to-end technical roadmaps for our spacecraft platform families.
• Establish, document, and release standardized capability baselines for the platforms, packaging these integrated solutions (HW + SW + Ops) so MLSEs can seamlessly inherit them.
• Act as the strategic integration peer to key domain leads - including the Hardware Chief Engineer, FSW Architect, GSW Architect, and Operations Managers. You will manage the integrated, end-to-end mission system requirements, while partnering with these domain experts as the definitive authorities on their respective areas.
• Execute system-level simulation and analysis - often integrated into V&V campaigns - to ensure resource budgets close and that the rolled-up system performance strictly meets overarching platform specifications.
• Maintain deep situational awareness across all avionics and subsystem roadmaps, ensuring capabilities are delivered on the timelines required to meet the operational platform baseline.
• Drive right-sized Verification & Validation (V&V) and "Test Like You Fly" (TLYF) campaigns that balance technical rigor with execution speed, hardening our comprehensive platform baselines for fleet production.
• Shape robust fault management architectures and operational concepts designed to drastically reduce operator toil, ensuring SLA requirements are met at scale.
• Drive systems standardization across the Muon Foundry by creating reusable requirements, specifications, and standardized documentation to be leveraged across the entire spacecraft fleet.
• Track high-level system Key Performance Parameters (KPPs) and integration metrics to identify bottlenecks and guide the broader organization on where to focus constrained resources.

Qualifications 

• M.S. or higher degree in an engineering field plus 8+ 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/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 (e.g., optical, multispectral, RF), and their associated data pipelines.
• Familiarity with requirements management, systems modeling tools, and software engineering processes.

Salary

The salary range for this role is $216,000 - $242,000, 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.