Manager, Instrument Design

About the role

Muon seeks a Manager of Instrument Design to build, mentor, and guide a multidisciplinary team of optical and optomechanical engineers. In this role, you will establish the technical vision, design methodologies, and execution frameworks for our multispectral thermal IR instruments. As a technical leader and functional manager, you will define the architecture standards, oversight processes, and optical design, analysis, and error budget frameworks that your team executes against. You will guide optomechanical trades, establish vendor management strategies for optical components, and oversee integration with matrixed engineering disciplines across mechanical, structural, and thermal domains. While your primary focus is leadership, technical governance, and internal capability building, you will retain the deep engineering background required to contribute as an optical subsystem lead.

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

Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor, and scale a high-performing team of optical and optomechanical engineers; owning hiring, career development, and strategic workforce allocation across missions.
• Establish and oversee the technical frameworks, methodologies, and review processes for optical subsystem development, including error budgeting, performance modeling, and STOP analysis across the instrument development lifecycle.
• Provide architectural oversight and guidance for precision optomechanical layouts, optical bench design, mounting, and alignment strategies.
• Define standards and methodologies for stray light analysis and optical coating definition including spectral filter specifications.
• Maintain the technical oversight and vendor management strategy for optical components and subsystems.
• Drive cross-functional alignment with other teams in the EO/IR instruments organization, while establishing functional interfaces and boundaries with matrixed mechanisms, mechanical, structural, and thermal engineers and analysts.
• Establish standards for optical assembly, alignment, test, and calibration, in collaboration with the instrument systems engineering and AIT groups.
• Serve as the optical lead on select internal R&D initiatives and provide interim technical leadership on early-stage missions prior to program team scaling.

Qualifications

• Ph.D. and 3+ years of experience developing imaging systems and remote sensing instruments; or M.S. and 6+ years industry experience; or B.S. and 8+ years industry experience in optical engineering, optomechanical engineering, physics, or a related field, including technical leadership roles as a plus.
• Direct experience developing space-based or airborne remote sensing hardware, specifically multispectral thermal IR payloads or cryogenically cooled imaging systems.
• Expertise in sequential and non-sequential optical design and analysis software (e.g., Zemax, Code V, FRED, LightTools).
• Strong familiarity with optomechanical design principles, optomechanical CAD review (SolidWorks), and STOP analysis workflows.
• Proven track record of defining technical specifications and actively managing external vendors for optical components.
• Hands-on experience with precision optical metrology equipment, cleanroom optical alignment, and environmental qualification testing.
• Software proficiency in Python for performance modeling and data analysis.
• Excellent communication, presentation, and leadership skills with experience managing complex cross-functional engineering interfaces.
• Willingness and ability to obtain security clearance required.

Nice-to-have Skills

• Experience working within matrixed engineering organizations and establishing clear functional boundaries.
• Exposure to systems engineering, specifically requirements decomposition and V&V.

Salary

The salary range for this role is $184,000 - $202,000, plus a competitive equity grant and comprehensive benefits package. Final compensation will be based on skills, qualifications, experience, and geographic location as assessed during the interview process