Lead Mechanical Engineer (Starship)

SPACE EXPLORATION TECHNOLOGIES CORP; Starbase (TX); On-site; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

SpaceX is hiring a Lead Mechanical Engineer (Starship) based in Starbase, TX. You will lead the avionics mechanical team, designing systems to protect electronics in harsh launch environments and drive manufacturability.

You will own requirements, perform analyses (FEA, hand calculations), guide testing, and collaborate with production and adjacent engineering teams to deliver reliable, producible designs for current and next‑gen vehicles.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, science or math.
• 3+ years of professional mechanical design experience.
• Experience leading teams (1+ years).
• Strong problem solving across disciplines.

Responsibilities

• Own avionics mechanical design to enable rapid progress.
• Lead design, analysis, and testing activities.
• Develop design requirements and sizing.
• Optimize speed, mass, and cost.
• Perform FEA and first principles analysis.
• Driving DFM, first article builds, and production handoff
• Support production issues and process improvements
• Design and execute development and qualification testing
• Coordinate with analysts for thermal and vibration; with manufacturing for manufacturability
• Manage schedule and delivery through concept to launch

Skills

Mechanical design

Team leadership

GD&T

CAD/FEA

Education

Bachelor’s degree in engineering, science, or math

Tools

CAD

FEA

Hand calculations

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.

LEAD MECHANICAL ENGINEER (STARSHIP)

The Starship Avionics Mechanical team is responsible for producing an avionics system minimizing vehicle cost/mass and providing electrical sensing, actuation, and control for flying the vehicle. Avionics includes RF communication, navigation sensors, electrical actuators, video systems, propulsion sensors, and energy storage. This role leads a team of mechanical engineers, and it is within a larger avionics team of electrical engineers designing electrical system and vehicle operations. This role will partner closely with adjacent Starship engineering and production teams to continuously improve the design and manufacturability of avionics hardware for current and next‑generation vehicles. The team mission is to develop highly producible mechanical designs and packaging solutions that protect electronics from the harsh mechanical and thermal environments of launch vehicle operations.

Responsibilities

• Extreme ownership of avionics engineers to enable the rapid progress of design, integration, test, and launch activities
• Drive conceptual design, architecture trades, and first order sizing
• Develop design requirements where definition is lacking
• Optimize the development speed, mass, and cost on our avionics
• Perform in depth first principles analysis and FEA to assess and optimize designs
• Incorporate design for manufacturing principles, drive first article builds, and make improvements necessary to hand off subsequent builds to production
• Support production issues and drive design, process, and procedure improvements for maximum production efficiency and rate after first article build
• Design and execute development, acceptance, and qualification testing
• Drive delivery timeline through conception, design, parts, assembly and integration, and launch
• Work closely with analysts to develop thermal, vibration, and loading requirements and with manufacturing engineers to optimize designs for rapid manufacturability

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in an engineering, science, or math discipline
• 3+ years of professional experience designing mechanical components or assemblies

Preferred Skills and Experience

• 1+ years of experience leading teams, either formally or as part of a team project
• Creative problem solving that can bring multiple disciplines together with the ability to assess risk and make design and development decisions without all available data
• Ability to work in a fast paced, autonomously driven, and demanding atmosphere
• Self‑motivated with strong multi‑tasking, organizational, communication and documentation skills
• Strong sense of accountability and integrity
• Solid understanding and application of GD&T
• Proficient and frequent use of hand calculations, finite element analyses (FEA), and computer‑aided designs (CAD)

Additional Requirements

• This position is based in Starbase, TX and requires being onsite – remote work not considered
• Must be able to work extended hours and weekends to support critical project and mission milestones
• To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful permanent resident (green card holder), (iii) refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) asylum seeker 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.

Equal Opportunity Employer Statement

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.