Senior Software Engineer, Customer Solutions

Muon seeks a Senior Software Engineer, Customer Solutions to join our Software team. This engineer will help Muon's customers integrate their payloads and software before launch, guiding them through the software development kit, payload accommodation guide and best practices for deploying their instruments in a constellation of spacecraft.

You will serve as a technical expert and guide for the customer throughout the early phases of their mission, ensuring that they can test their code and payload long in advance of launch. You will set up appropriate simulations and tests with them to help them gain confidence in what will happen on orbit. You will ensure a seamless transition such that the systems can work the same in test as they will work in orbit, allowing the customer to much more quickly get real data from their spacecraft.

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

• →Own the engineering experience for external payload partners integrating with Muon's software platform, including how they can handle commanding, telemetry, payload management, fault detection and recovery, and data downlink.
• →Partner with Flight Software, Mission Engineering, and Systems Engineering to influence design and evolution of our payload interfaces.
• →Run customer-facing technical exchanges, design reviews, and integration test campaigns. Serve as the named software technical point of contact for payload partners.
• →Author and maintain the customer-facing developer guide, sample code, and reference applications for the customer-facing Payload Software Development Kit; contribute to the Payload Accommodation Guide.
• →Maintain up-to-date epics, estimate forward-looking work, and escalate roadmap changes or delays early.
• →Define and track metrics that matter for the customer payload-integration experience (e.g., integration cycle time, customer-blocking issue lead time) and manage OKRs for your area of responsibility.
• →Mentor newer software engineers; raise the bar for code quality, design review, and customer-facing documentation across the team.

• B.S., M.S., or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related field — or equivalent experience.
• Strong fluency in modern C++ and Python.
• 7+ years of professional software engineering experience, including shipping software that external customers depend on.
• Excellent coding and design skills.
• Demonstrated experience designing and operating service interfaces (gRPC/protobuf or REST), file-transfer protocols, and structured telemetry pipelines.
• Experience integrating software across organizational boundaries such as vendor SDKs, third-party hardware, or external customer code.
• Excellent written and verbal communication.

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.

• Working knowledge of Rust.
• Spaceflight flight software experience, or other safety/mission-critical embedded software experience.
• Direct experience integrating third-party payloads with a satellite bus.
• Prior work building developer SDKs, customer-facing technical documentation, or partner-integration programs.
• Familiarity with Linux-based real-time systems and embedded networking (Ethernet/CAN/serial) at the protocol level.
• Experience in negotiation and customer alignment.

The salary range for this role is $184,000 - $208,000, 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. 

Founded in 2021, Muon Space is an end-to-end Space Systems Provider that designs, builds, and operates LEO satellite constellations delivering mission-critical data. Our revolutionary, integrated technology stack enables customers to optimize every dimension of their missions for faster time-to-orbit and superior constellation remote sensing performance. Our state-of-the-art facility in the heart of Silicon Valley is optimized for manufacturing spacecraft and rapid, flexible payload integration at scale. From climate monitoring to national security, Muon Space is dedicated to delivering Earth Intelligence for a safer and more resilient world.

At Muon salary is only part of our total compensation package. In addition to salary, full-time employees receive equity compensation as well as benefits including medical, dental, and vision insurance, a 401k retirement plan, short & long term disability and life insurance. We also offer three weeks paid vacation for new employees, along with 12 paid holidays, unlimited sick time and paid parental leave.

Our mission embraces the entire planet and we believe our team should too.  Muon is dedicated to creating a diverse and dynamic company and workforce. We believe in equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, age, national origin, citizenship, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, or gender identity. We value diversity in the workplace, and that starts with our applicants. We encourage you to apply, even if you don't check all the boxes, and we look forward to reviewing your application! In addition, if you need a reasonable accommodation as part of your application for employment or interviews with us, please let us know.