Senior Director of Spacecraft Components

About the role

Muon seeks an experienced leader to build and guide our Spacecraft Components organization through our next stage of rapid growth. This organization designs, qualifies, and delivers the components at the heart of every Muon spacecraft across three subteams: Electronics & Embedded (avionics, power electronics, RF, and electrical test), Modules & Mechanisms (integrated modules and actuation mechanisms, plus design support to our instrument and propulsion teams), and Solar & Deployables (solar arrays and deployable systems). The role reports to Muon's Senior Director of Hardware Engineering.

The ideal candidate is a seasoned, cross-disciplinary leader experienced at organizing and scaling rapidly growing teams, with strong program management skills. Experience designing and manufacturing low-volume, high-mix products efficiently is a must.

This role is split between our San Jose and Mountain View locations, with the expectation of regular onsite days at both.

Responsibilities

• Lead a multidisciplinary organization to architect, design, qualify, and deliver a catalog of spacecraft components - electronics, RF, integrated modules and mechanisms, and solar and deployable systems - serving a wide range of missions
• Own component roadmaps that balance the needs of concurrent missions and platform evolution, driving standardization and reuse across spacecraft platforms
• Own component-level design, analysis, qualification, and electrical test strategies, partnering with Hardware Reliability & Test to ensure consistent qualification across the catalog
• Provide engineering design support to instrument and propulsion teams through the Modules & Mechanisms team
• Collaborate with Product, Business Development, Systems Engineering, Software, and Operations to ensure components meet the needs of our growing mission portfolio; support proposals and cost models
• Partner with Production and Supply Chain to scale components from prototype builds to constellation quantities, designing for manufacturability and test
• Own budgets, schedules, and delivery milestones for component development programs
• Mentor and support multiple levels of team managers and enable scalable growth within the organization

Qualifications

• 15+ years of experience designing and/or managing the design of complex, high-reliability systems that operate in harsh environments (spacecraft, autonomous vehicles, drones, etc.)
• 8+ years of people management experience, including managing engineers and engineering managers
• Strong technical foundation spanning electrical, embedded, and mechanical design and analysis
• Experience designing and manufacturing low-volume, high-mix products efficiently
• Proven experience managing complex engineering projects from concept to deployment, including budget and schedule management
• Excellent leadership, program management, communication, and problem-solving skills; excited to work in a fast-paced environment with new challenges each week
• B.S., M.S., or Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related field

Nice-to-have Skills

• Flight heritage delivering spaceflight avionics, mechanisms, solar arrays, or similar components
• Experience standing up new teams or reorganizing engineering organizations during rapid growth
• Experience with vertically integrated hardware development, from in-house design through production at scale
• Experience with RF hardware or electrical test infrastructure development
• Experience supporting instrument or propulsion system development

Salary

The salary range for this role is $223,000 - $259,000, 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.

Muon is currently registered and able to hire in the following states

AL, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, IL, IA, ID, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, NJ, NY, NC, OH, OR, PA, TN, TX, VT, VA, WA

ITAR/EAR Requirements

This position requires access to export controlled information.

To conform to U.S. Government export regulations applicable to that information, applicant must either be (A) a U.S. person, defined as a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (green card holder), (iii) refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, (B) eligible to access the export controlled information without a required export authorization, or (C) eligible and reasonably likely to obtain the required export authorization from the applicable U.S. government agency.

The Company may, for legitimate business reasons, decline to pursue any export licensing process.