Aviation Development Engineer (Starlink)

SpaceX; Woodinville (WA); On-site; USD 100,000 - 165,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock options

401(k) plan

Health insurance

Job summary

SpaceX is hiring an Aviation Development Engineer (Starlink) to accelerate the airline passenger experience through Starlink integration. You will manage technical engagement, prepare plans, and align stakeholders across customers, airframes, and partners to deliver compliant, on-time deployments.

You will coordinate with FAA and other regulators, own documentation, and drive program reviews to ensure successful launches and continuous improvement in a fast-paced aerospace environment.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a STEM discipline.
• 1+ years in engineering or technical program/product management bringing a service, product or program to market.
• Experience navigating aerospace programs with manufacturers from ideation to rollout.

Responsibilities

• Responsible for technical engagement and successful Starlink service launch with airline partners
• Establish and maintain governance, delivering reporting to customer teams and SpaceX leadership
• Lead strategic program reviews, coordination with stakeholders and partners
• Coordinate with customers and internal teams to translate requirements into actionable plans

Skills

Project management

Aerospace industry experience

Systems integration

Regulatory compliance

Technical documentation

Customer engagement

Data visualization

Education

Bachelor’s degree in STEM

Tools

Microsoft Word

Job description

SpaceX was founded under the belief that a future where humanity is out exploring the stars is fundamentally more exciting than one where we are not. Today SpaceX is actively developing the technologies to make this possible, with the ultimate goal of enabling human life on Mars.

AVIATION DEVELOPMENT ENGINEER (STARLINK)

We are rapidly accelerating our transformation of the airline passenger experience and are seeking engineers with a track record of new product launch, service introduction and engineering solutions to complex technical challenges with partners and customers. Starlink designs, builds, tests and operates all of the technology utilized in our solutions for airlines. Our mission is to put Starlink on everything that flies and bring the Starlink experience to millions of passengers globally. To accomplish this, we are creating deep technical alignment with our airline partners across the areas of passenger experience, mechanical and electrical integration, network performance and measurement and application-level features and functionality.

Responsibilities

• Responsible for the technical engagement and successful Starlink service launch of Starlink with airline partners
• Establish and maintain comprehensive program governance, delivering accurate, timely reporting to both customer-facing teams and SpaceX leadership
• Lead strategic program reviews, coordination meetings, and workshops with internal stakeholders, customers, airframe manufacturers, and industry partners
• Engage with customers during pre-sales to deeply understand requirements and translate them into actionable technical and operational plans
• Coordinate across company departments, vendors, airframe manufacturers, and partners to prepare technical, compliance, and commercial artifacts for licenses, type approvals, and regulatory audits
• Navigate complex schedules and project dependencies ensuring a maximally efficient use of SpaceX resources and customer success.
• Work closely with the FAA and other aerospace regulatory bodies to ensure full compliance throughout the customer engagement
• Manage multiple concurrent projects and provide regular updates on schedule and deliverables to senior management
• Act as the subject matter expert on the SpaceX aviation integration process and create alignment across all partners
• Work across all stakeholders to ensure feedback is incorporated into project schedules and statement of work

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a STEM discipline
• 1+ years of experience working in an engineering discipline (e.g., software, network, mechanical, electrical) or 1+ years experience in a technical program/product management role bringing a service, product or program to market

Preferred Skills And Experience

• Demonstrated ability to navigate complex technical programs with aerospace manufacturers from ideation, commercial negotiation, and implementation to roll-out
• Experience in one or more of the following functional areas: software architecture and protocols, electrical interfaces and standards, wireless data communications, mechanical structures or thermal analysis
• Experience conducting commercial and technical trades across partner and internal stakeholders
• Demonstrated high accountability to producing the correct requirements, eliminating complexity and communicating dependencies, critical path and key decision-points to a large group of stakeholders
• Experience with industry certification and regulatory compliance
• Experience with commissioning and testing, writing and executing integration plans
• Previous technical ownership of a complex project involving numerous stakeholders from conception to customer acceptance
• Demonstrated ability to produce documentation deliverables on a tight timeline
• Extremely strong proficiency with Microsoft Word as a tool to produce and manage large documents
• Experience generating schematics, diagrams, and data visualizations that clearly communicate design intent of systems, tests or analysis
• Hardware ownership for mechanical or electrical systems through entire lifecycle (design, qualification, manufacturing, and launch)
• Understanding of failure modes of complex mechanical and electrical systems
• Extremely strong verbal and written communication skills

Additional Requirements

• Ability to work extended hours and weekends as necessary to support critical milestones
• Ability to travel if needed (0-25%)

Compensation And Benefits

Pay Range:
Level 1: $100,000.00 - $135,000.00
Level 2: $115,000.00 - $165,000.00
Your actual level and base salary will be determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on the following considerations: job-related knowledge and skills, education, and experience.
Base salary is just one part of your total rewards package at SpaceX. You may also be eligible for long-term incentives, in the form of company stock or long-term cash awards, as well as potential discretionary bonuses and the ability to purchase additional stock at a discount through an Employee Stock Purchase Plan. You will also receive access to comprehensive medical, vision, and dental coverage, access to a 401(k) retirement plan, short and long-term disability insurance, life insurance, paid parental leave, and various other discounts and perks. You may also accrue 3 weeks of paid vacation and will be eligible for 10 or more paid holidays per year. Employees accrue paid sick leave pursuant to Company policy which satisfies or exceeds the accrual, carryover, and use requirements of the law.

Itar Requirements

• To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C.
• 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C.
• 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here.

SpaceX is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with SpaceX is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.
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