Data Center Infrastructure Lead — TS/SCI

Starlink; Hawthorne (CA); On-site; USD 165,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock options

Medical coverage

401(k) retirement plan

Paid vacation & holidays

Job summary

SpaceX is seeking a highly technical Manager of Data Center Hardware & Infrastructure to lead a distributed team across Hawthorne and other sites, ensuring 24/7 reliability for mission-critical systems.

The role emphasizes hands-on hardware management, from racking servers to GPU/AI compute clusters, while enforcing security standards for TS/SCI environments and driving cost-effective capacity planning.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a STEM discipline; 5+ years leading technical teams in data center, infrastructure, or IT operations.
• 8+ years hands-on experience in enterprise or hyperscale data center ops and hardware infra.
• Active Top Secret, Top Secret SCI, or DOE Level Q clearance.

Responsibilities

• Build and lead a high-performing team of data center technicians, systems engineers, and infra specialists across SpaceX sites.
• Own end-to-end hardware lifecycle: capacity planning, rack/stack, power, cooling, storage, and networking.
• Establish hardware standards and procedures aligned with DISA STIG, NIST, ICD 705, TEMPEST for TS/SCI environments.
• Drive high-availability ops: monitoring, incident response, change mgmt, preventive maintenance, rapid recovery.
• Partner with network, security, facilities, and compute teams on power, cooling, cabling, interconnect design.
• Manage vendor relationships, roadmaps, spares, and budget for data center infra across sites.
• Implement DCIM, telemetry, and automation for capacity, environmental, and asset tracking.
• Ensure compliance with physical security and SCIF/SAPF requirements for classified hardware.
• Hire, develop, and retain talent; promote ownership and technical excellence; travel 10-25%.

Skills

Data center ops

Hands-on hardware

GPU/AI compute

Vendor management

Leadership

DCIM

Power & cooling

Security clearance

Education

Bachelor's in STEM

Tools

NetApp storage

Pure Storage

Dell EMC

VMware

KVM

InfiniBand

400G Ethernet

800G Ethernet

Job description

SpaceX is seeking a highly technical Manager of Data Center Hardware & Infrastructure to lead a distributed team across Hawthorne and other sites, ensuring 24/7 reliability for mission-critical systems.

The role emphasizes hands-on hardware management, from racking servers to GPU/AI compute clusters, while enforcing security standards for TS/SCI environments and driving cost-effective capacity planning.