Lead Engineer, Development Operations — Hardware & Fab

SPACE EXPLORATION TECHNOLOGIES CORP; Bastrop, Northern (TX, KY); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

SpaceX in Bastrop, TX is seeking a Lead Engineer for Development Operations (Starlink) to own the engineering stack from concept through fabrication, including fixtures, tooling, and DFMs. You will mentor engineers and drive quality, cost, and schedule improvements across build cells.

You will collaborate with Supervisors, CNC programmers, machinists, welders, and vendors to define requirements and ensure timely handoffs, with rigorous documentation and design standards.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree: mechanical engineering or related field.
• 2+ years leading a product development, manufacturing engineering, or project team.
• 3+ years hands-on design, analysis, build, and/or manufacturing of mechanical or electromechanical hardware.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Development Operations engineering team (Build Engineers and design/DFM ICs); hire, coach, set goals.
• Own design for manufacturability from concept through fab; manage GD&T and design changes.
• Own fixtures, tooling, workholding, and catalog items from raw material through handoff to the customer program.
• Act as technical decision maker for the shop engineering stack and escalation paths.

Skills

Team leadership

DFM/DFA

GD&T

Fixtures & tooling understanding

Vendor interaction

Education

Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering

Tools

NX

SolidWorks

Teamcenter

CNC

Welding

Job description

SpaceX in Bastrop, TX is seeking a Lead Engineer for Development Operations (Starlink) to own the engineering stack from concept through fabrication, including fixtures, tooling, and DFMs. You will mentor engineers and drive quality, cost, and schedule improvements across build cells.

You will collaborate with Supervisors, CNC programmers, machinists, welders, and vendors to define requirements and ensure timely handoffs, with rigorous documentation and design standards.