Lead Mechanical Engineer (Starship Avionics)

SPACE EXPLORATION TECHNOLOGIES CORP; Starbase (TX); On-site; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

SPACE EXPLORATION TECHNOLOGIES CORP is seeking a Lead Mechanical Engineer to join their Starship Avionics team in Starbase, TX. The role involves owning the design and integration of avionics hardware, leading a team of mechanical engineers, and collaborating with various engineering teams. Ideal candidates have a Bachelor's degree in engineering, 3+ years of experience in mechanical design, and strong problem-solving skills. This position is onsite only and requires extended hours to support critical project milestones.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of professional experience designing mechanical components or assemblies.
• Strong understanding and application of GD&T.

Responsibilities

• Extreme ownership of avionics engineers to enable rapid progress.
• Drive conceptual design and architecture trades.
• Develop design requirements where definition is lacking.
• Optimize development speed, mass, and cost of avionics.
• Perform in-depth first-principles analysis and FEA.
• Incorporate design for manufacturing principles.
• Support production issues and drive improvements.
• Drive delivery timeline through conception to launch.
• Work with analysts and manufacturing engineers on designs.

Skills

Leadership

Creative problem-solving

Communication skills

Multi-tasking

Organizational skills

Education

Bachelor’s degree in an engineering, science, or math discipline

Tools

Finite Element Analysis (FEA)

Computer-Aided Design (CAD)

Job description

Lead Mechanical Engineer (Starship Avionics)

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.

Starship Avionics Mechanical 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 development speed, mass, and cost of 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, the 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) asylee 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.

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.

Applicants wishing to view a copy of SpaceX’s affirmative action plan for veterans and individuals with disabilities, or applicants requiring reasonable accommodation to the application/interview process should reach out to [e-mail].