Lead Mechanical Engineer, Hardware Reliability (Starlink)

United States Digital Space LLC; Bastrop (TX); On-site; USD 140,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

United States Digital Space LLC is seeking a Lead Mechanical Engineer, Hardware Reliability for Starlink hardware. You will lead a team responsible for reliability from factory to field, shaping design and manufacturing processes, and communicating findings to senior leadership.

You will set strategy, own team performance, and drive reliability improvements while ensuring ISO standards compliance and timely issue resolution across the product lifecycle.

Qualifications

• Experience leading hardware reliability teams for complex products.
• Proven ability to design and implement reliability strategies and testing.
• Familiarity with ISO standards and manufacturing processes.

Responsibilities

• Lead and mentor a team focused on hardware reliability for Starlink hardware.
• Coordinate with design, software, manufacturing, and supply chain to ensure reliability improvements.
• Develop and execute reliability qualification strategies for mass production.

Skills

Leadership

Hardware reliability

Mentorship

Cross-functional collaboration

Data analysis

Job description

the company 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 the company is actively developing the technologies to make this possible, with the ultimate goal of enabling human life on Mars.

LEAD MECHANICAL ENGINEER, HARDWARE RELIABILITY (STARLINK)

As a Lead Mechanical Engineer, you will be responsible for the reliability of the Starlink Product hardware from factory to field. You will develop an intimate understanding of the Starlink system from hardware design to manufacturing processes, test procedures, RF, and network operation. You will lead a team whose priority is to minimize hardware failures and related customer downtime in the field. This is high visibility ownership which feeds into future product design, is involved in product launches, and one where you will regularly communicate findings to senior leadership.

You will set the strategy, and ownership plans for the team while aligning with management on longer-term development plans. You will be accountable for the team’s overall performance and development, teaching engineers how to solve problems, and staying closely involved in the top project and hardware concerns for this team. You will raise the team’s technical bar by providing tools, resources, trainings, and coaching to set a high standard for engineering, and hold partner teams accountable to timelines, goals, and expectations. You will also identify major and systemic issues within the team’s area of ownership, create projects to address them, and ensure the team meets all relevant ISO standards and requirements.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Leadership:
  • Lead and mentor a team of engineers and specialists focused on hardware reliability and field performance for the Starlink User Terminal Kit, including user terminals, Wi-Fi routers, power supplies, and cables.
  • Allocate resources across new product qualification campaigns, production reliability priorities, and field hardware investigations to ensure appropriate technical coverage, timely execution, and rapid troubleshooting of failures.
  • Develop individual team members through technical mentorship, clear ownership, and opportunities aligned with individual growth and the strategic goals of the Starlink program.
  • Partner closely with hardware design, software, manufacturing, and supply chain teams to proactively influence current and future designs and maximize reliability across the product lifecycle.
• Technical Scope:
  • Manage or lead technical investigations with tight timelines concerning isolated or fleet-wide performance or hardware issues that affect Starlink customers. Investigations may stem from test, production or field findings.
  • Develop and execute reliability qualification strategies for new and existing products to maximize field life, minimize early-life failures, and demonstrate readiness for mass production.
  • Design and execute environmental, mechanical, electrical, RF, and system-level reliability testing tailored to product architecture, use conditions, and identified failure mechanisms to qualify changes in high volume manufacturing.
  • Automate reliability test execution, data analysis, and reporting using appropriate data visualization and engineering tools to improve speed, repeatability, and technical decision-making.
  • Define and monitor ongoing reliability testing and monitoring strategies to assess manufacturing process health and identify long-term reliability risks driven by process, material, and component variability.
  • Define and monitor critical hardware and performance field metrics, such as product return rates, to identify and investigate product reliability shortcomings.