Track Reconstruction Engineer (m/f/d) in Hamburg

MuRay Tech is a deeptech spinout from DESY, Hamburg. We're hiring a Track Reconstruction Engineer to build the pipeline that turns raw detector hits into tracks, momenta, and image-ready data for our Active Muon Imaging system. You'll develop track fitting under scattering, detector alignment and calibration, noise rejection, and the in-house simulation stack that trains and validates it all. Direct ownership of the foundation the rest of the imaging pipeline runs on.

The role

As Track Reconstruction Engineer, you'll own how raw detector hits become tracks, momenta, and image-ready data. That spans noise rejection, track fitting, calibration, and simulation. Concretely, you will:

Develop track reconstruction algorithms for cosmics and low-flux Active Muon Imaging (AMI).

Suppress detector noise. Ensure reconstruction runs on signal only.

Fit tracks under scattering. Estimate momentum per track. Scattering effects grow at AMI's lower energies.

Build a robust detector alignment and calibration procedure. Use cosmic-ray tracks for a first pass. Refine with AMI data from real scans.

Build the in-house AMI simulation stack, propagating particles through a sample object and the detector. Define the file format the reconstruction pipeline reads and writes.

Reconstruction framework. Design and implement a scalable, high-throughput event reconstruction framework integrating raw detector hit ingestion, event building, and track fitting to produce structured event data for downstream tomographic imaging

What you’ll bring

Track fitting algorithm development. You've built tracking algorithms from first principles, not just configured existing HEP frameworks. Kalman filters, Hough transforms, or similar pattern recognition methods.

Scattering physics and momentum estimation. You know scattering sets the error budget at AMI's lower energies. You extract per-track momentum from the scattering angle.

Noise and signal separation at the detector level. You've built hit filtering, clustering, and timing cuts. You know the failure modes of the detector technology you're working with.

Detector alignment and calibration. You've aligned tracking detectors using cosmic-ray tracks, survey data, or both. You treat it as iterative: geometry, resolution, and track fit quality depend on each other.

Simulation and data format development. You've built or extended a particle transport simulation stack, ideally Geant4. You've designed the file format that stores its output.

Software engineering in C++ and Python. You write performant code in C++. You use Python to analyze data and prototype fast. You move between both without friction.

How we work

Skunkworks approach: We work in small teams with full ownership. We keep it simple, stupid.

Move fast: a shiny prototype means we spent too long on it. We build to learn. We polish later.

Disagree together, commit together: we debate and challenge, regardless of title. Then we deliver the decision as one team. We win as a team. We pivot as a team.

Courage: we always make the call. A mistake isn't a failure: it's proof we're improving. Either way, we own the outcome.

Honesty and transparency: we share what's really happening, good or bad. That lets everyone make the right call. We stay open. We stay honest.

What we offer

Impact: track reconstruction is the foundation the rest of the pipeline runs on. It becomes the image an aerospace or energy customer uses to make a decision.

Pace: a change you make today gets tested on real data tomorrow. Within a year, your code runs commercial scans, not papers.

Infrastructure: MuRay has access to active muon sources for real scan data, plus LUMI and in-house servers for compute.

Network: research collaborators include DESY, DLR, CERN, and Imperial College London. Commercial partners include Siemens Energy, Airbus, Caelora, and ZAL.

Ownership: an equity plan gives you a meaningful stake in the company.

Compensation: a salary that reflects your contribution to MuRay's growth.

Relocation: we support your move. If you're relocating from outside the EU, we help with the paperwork.

About MuRay Tech

MuRay builds compact laser-plasma accelerators that generate a controlled muon beam. Muon scans today are passive and take days. Active Muon Imaging (AMI) produces the same scan in seconds, at higher resolution. We work with partners in aerospace, defence, and energy today. Long term, we target security, customs, and medical imaging.

MuRay Tech develops safe, rapid and accurate active muon imaging solutions for industrial quality assessment, security and customs inspection and medical diagnostics. Our platform combines laser-plasma-accelerator-driven muon sources, next-generation particle detectors and AI to enable high-resolution 3D imaging with automated decision-making.

The company operates at DESY in Hamburg, Germany, and Tehnopol in Tallinn, Estonia. Our main development partners span the energy, defence, aerospace and security industries. Our initial technology and business focus is on the quality and safety assessment of critical metallic and ceramic components, such as rocket engines, gas turbines, jet engines, and large-scale nuclear or industrial systems.