Launch Hardware Automation & Controls Engineer

SpaceX

Florida

On-site

USD 110,000 - 160,000

Full time

8 days ago

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Job summary

SpaceX is seeking an Automation & Controls Engineer at Cape Canaveral to design, commission, and run the automation behind Starship production systems. You will specify instrumentation, program PLCs, collect data, and ensure systems stay up through continuous improvement.

The role covers a 24-lane Gigabay, air separation units, heat shield tile manufacturing, and data integration across the production floor. Candidates must have a physics/engineering background and hands-on PLC experience.

Qualifications

Experience with data acquisition systems (DAq) is required.
Industrial control design, commissioning, and troubleshooting.
Strong instrumentation and sensor understanding.
Ability to program PLCs and interpret electrical schematics.

Responsibilities

Design, build, and commission the controls for a 24-lane Gigabay: production tooling, lifts, fixtures, factory services, and the data layer the floor uses.
Bring industrial air separation units online and keep them running. Own the instrumentation, interlocks, and control narratives for compression, cold box, distillation, storage, and transfer into the propellant farms.
Own controls for heat shield tile manufacturing: thermal process equipment, material handling, inspection, and the data that ties process settings to tile quality.
Stand up new equipment from first power-on through rate production, then own uptime once it is live.
Develop and upgrade data acquisition and control systems as the factory, the air separation plant, and the tile line change.
Maintain the operational capability of control-voltage (<60V) electrical systems once activated.
Turn sensor and PLC data into something operators and responsible engineers can act on the same shift.
Support controls technicians and the mechanical, facilities, and process engineers who depend on these systems.
Design hardware and work methods that cut cost, install time, and the time it takes to recover a down line.
Analyze data to judge the health of electrical and process systems, and use it to drive the next change.