Founding LPA Engineer (m/f/d)

Summary MuRay Tech is a deeptech spinout from DESY, Hamburg. We're hiring a Founding LPA Engineer to build the laser-plasma accelerator at the center of our muon source, and the team around it. You'll take the LPA from working point to product: a density-tailored plasma source that survives a 100 Hz, 100 TW focus, the vacuum and laser transport line around it, and the requirements that let it run unattended. As a founding hire, you'll start hands-on and hire as the scope grows. Direct ownership of the machine our product depends on. The role As Founding LPA Engineer, you'll own the laser-plasma accelerator at the center of MuRay's muon source, from working point to product. Concretely, you will: Assemble and lead the Muon Source team , covering LPA, converter, and optics. Start hands-on. Hire and structure the team as the work grows. Oversee the development of working points and a density-tailored plasma source that survive the thermal load of a 100 Hz, 100 TW focus. Millions of consistent shots. Not one good shot. Lead the development  of the plasma source . Execute experiments at user facilities to iterate the design towards powering our main product: the transportable muon source. Isolate the laser specs that matter most . Ensure they get delivered. Pulse energy, duration, pointing and energy stability, beam quality: the numbers that decide whether the LPA works. Own the vacuum system and the laser transport line . Vacuum chambers, differential pumping, vibration management, thermal management. This is what turns the LPA into a machine that fits inside a shipping container and runs 24/7. Define the requirements for the control system, the machine protection system, and the diagnostics suite. They let the machine run unattended. What you'll bring Team leadership. You've built and led a technical team before. You're ready to be hands-on again before this one exists. Hands-on LPA experience. You've built and operated a laser-plasma accelerator. Not just modeled one. Injection, dephasing, depletion, and guiding physics you've tuned on real hardware.  Experimental leadership at user facilities. You've planned and run a multi-year experimental campaign before. You know how to iterate a design from real beamtime data. High-power laser system literacy. You can write a spec a laser manufacturer can build to: pulse energy, duration, pointing and energy stability, beam quality. You hold vendors to it. Vacuum and opto-mechanical engineering judgment. You know what vacuum chamber design, differential pumping, vibration isolation, and thermal management require to keep the LPA running under continuous, high-average-power use. Controls and diagnostics systems thinking. You can translate "runs unattended, 24/7" into concrete requirements for a control system, a machine protection system, and a diagnostics suite, even where another team builds them. How we work Skunkworks approach: We work in small teams with full ownership. We keep it simple,…