Instrument Engineering Intern (summer 2026)
Muon Space
Instrument Engineering Intern (Summer 2026)
Summer internships will range between the months of May and September depending on university schedules. Internship is full-time and on-site in Mountain View, CA.
The Instrument Engineering team is responsible for developing Muon's remote sensing instruments, including those for the FireSat constellation. The team's scope spans the full instrument development lifecycle, ranging from concept through design and analysis, vendor management, assembly, integration, and test (AI&T), and on-orbit commissioning. The ideal candidate is interested in working across many layers of technical depth from individual components through system level and collaborating across various engineering disciplines, including optical, mechanical, thermal, electrical, and software teams.
Muon is a small and fast growing startup which offers interns the experience to get direct mentorship and have real impact on our programs. Muon offers interns direct mentorship, real impact, and collaboration with accomplished aerospace professionals. Your contributions will directly shape our programs and success.
Responsibilities
- Contribute to the operation of test setups for functional testing and characterization of components, subsystems, and instruments
- Identify and iterate on improvements to design and automation of test setups
- Contribute to requirements verification and validation (V&V) planning
- Contribute to modeling and simulation to support instrument development
Qualifications
- Experience working hands-on with precision optical/optomechanical metrology equipment
- Experience developing data analysis tools and generating reports
- Basic programming skills in one or more languages (e.g. Python, Julia, C++)
- Strong communication, presentation, and organization skills
- Coursework or relevant experience in several of the following: Optics, Optical Design, Optomechanical Design, Optical Systems
Nice-to-have Skills
- Previous internship or co-op experience
- Previous experience on technical project teams
- Experience writing build instructions or test plans
Salary
The hourly wage for this role is $50.