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Salary: USD 181,000 - 208,000 / annual
Muon Space, a LEO satellite constellation provider founded in 2021, is seeking a Senior Systems Engineer specializing in EO/IR (Electro-Optical/Infrared) payloads to join the Mission Innovation team. This is a high-impact individual contributor role focused on driving technical exploration of next-generation payload and instrument concepts, enabling novel imaging modes, and conceptualizing innovative applications of Muon's space systems technology.
You will serve as a critical technical bridge across Applied Science, Payload Engineering, Product, Mission Systems, and Business Development. Your primary responsibilities include: developing system and payload requirements for early-stage concepts; building advanced simulations, radiometric models, and detailed technical analyses; identifying and enabling novel imaging modes and operational use cases; leading R&D activities as Principal Investigator; performing feasibility studies and trade studies for unconventional applications; and supporting customer discovery and proposal generation with deep EO/IR systems engineering expertise.
The role operates at the earliest stages of the business lifecycle, where you will hypothesize, analyze, and validate how Muon's unique payload capabilities address critical challenges for defense, intelligence, philanthropic, and commercial end-users. You will partner closely with cross-functional teams to translate early-stage ideas into rigorous technical architectures and demonstrations, and contribute to technical proposals, white papers, and concept studies that drive R&D roadmaps.
Required qualifications include a B.S., M.S., or Ph.D. in engineering, physics, or optical sciences; 5+ years as a systems or instrument engineer with deep EO/IR payload domain expertise; background in infrared, multispectral, or hyperspectral remote sensing; experience with EO/IR space missions across government and commercial markets; demonstrated systems engineering capability (requirements, simulation, analysis); proficiency in Python, Julia, MATLAB, or similar languages; and ability to obtain TS/SCI security clearance (active clearance strongly preferred). Nice-to-have skills include early-stage business development experience, radiometric modeling, rapid prototyping, and small satellite systems architecture knowledge.
