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Salary: USD 177,000 - 246,000 / annual
Muon Space is seeking a Staff Mission Lead Systems Engineer specializing in RF Systems to join the Mission Execution team. The company develops satellite constellations and Earth intelligence systems for climate monitoring and national security applications.
In this role, you will serve as the technical authority for designated missions across their full lifecycle—from early concept and formulation through on-orbit operations. You will partner with the Mission Architecture team during study phases to develop mission concepts, run architecture trade studies, and shape technical baselines. As missions move into implementation, you will transition to Mission Lead Systems Engineer, owning end-to-end technical success.
Key responsibilities include:
- Developing and maintaining mission-level system models (architecture, requirements, interfaces, behavior models) that serve as the authoritative technical baseline
- Leading conceptualization, design, and development of assigned missions; driving critical cross-functional technical trades
- Tailoring and implementing the Muon mission design process for your mission while contributing to process refinement across all missions
- Translating customer objectives into clear, verifiable, actionable technical requirements
- Serving as primary technical point of contact for your mission, interfacing with customers, partners, and internal stakeholders
- Managing requirements traceability, verification, and validation
- Defining mission CONOPS and managing subsystem budgets (power, data, mass, pointing/stability)
- Identifying and mitigating mission risks; assessing and coordinating design changes across disciplines
- Leading design, test readiness, and flight readiness reviews
- Monitoring on-orbit spacecraft and data pipelines to ensure mission success
- Providing technical direction to systems, hardware, software, data, ground segment, and operations teams
- Contributing systems engineering expertise to other Muon missions and potentially deputizing for other Mission Lead Systems Engineers
- Continuously improving engineering processes, tools, and methodologies
The role requires a "big-picture" view of mission execution spanning the full lifecycle. You will work in a lean, agile environment where the ability to right-size analysis and processes for different system maturity levels, flexibility with changing demands, and effective communication of technical content to diverse audiences are critical to success.
QUALIFICATIONS:
- Direct engineering experience with RF systems (RF payload/instrument design, link budget analysis, spectrum and regulatory considerations, mission-level RF architecture trades)
- B.S. or higher degree in engineering field
- 8+ years of experience in complex system, mission architecture, and/or spacecraft design with focus on high-rigor development for government and/or demanding commercial customers
- Demonstrated experience as a technical lead (Chief Engineer, Lead Systems Engineer) on at least one complex system design for USG, DoD, IC, and/or commercial customers
- Experience with major space programs for USG, DoD, IC, and/or commercial customers
- Experience with USG/IC acquisition programs, standards for space systems development, and mission assurance standards
- Strong understanding of USG/IC contracts and their artifacts
- Experience supporting proposal development (RFI/RFP responses) for government contracts
- Extensive experience in system modeling, systems analysis, and running simulations
- Proven history of system integration and delivery of complex systems
- Experience in formal requirements management for multi-disciplinary projects
- Demonstrated project management skills and ability to collaborate with other engineering disciplines
- Excellent communication, presentation, and coordination skills
- Ability to rapidly change roles/responsibilities in fast-paced environment
- Active TS/SCI security clearance required
Nice-to-have skills: Cameo Systems Modeler or equivalent SysML MBSE tool experience; Python or Julia; software engineering tools and processes (version control, code review); industry standards for electrical/software quality practices; remote sensing instrument experience across multiple modalities (optical, multispectral, RF) and associated data pipelines.
