Machinery & Automation Process Engineer (High-Rate Production)

SPACE EXPLORATION TECHNOLOGIES CORP; Hawthorne (CA); On-site; USD 100,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

SpaceX, located in Hawthorne, CA, seeks a Process Engineer, Machinery & Automation to lead design and deployment of powder handling, mixers, and liquid dispensing systems for Starship materials production. You will own equipment from procurement to FAT/SAT, driving automation and production ramp with minimal operator variation.

The role requires a Bachelor’s degree in a technical field and 3+ years in related equipment, with hands-on experience in powder/dispensing, mixers, and liquid

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, materials engineering, manufacturing engineering, or related technical discipline.
• 3+ years of hands‑on experience with powder handling/dispensing, industrial mixers, liquid dispensing, fluid delivery, or chemical/materials production equipment.

Responsibilities

• Design, specify, procure, install, and commission powder handling/dispensing systems, industrial mixers, and liquid dispensing equipment for paints, adhesives, ablatives, sealants, fillers, and other formulated materials.
• Own powder equipment including hoppers, feeders (screw, vibratory, loss-in-weight), weigh/batch systems, dust collection, pneumatic conveying, and powder-to-liquid incorporation.
• Own mixers and blending equipment (high-shear, planetary, dual-asymmetric, ribbon, paddle, vacuum, reactors) including agitation, vacuum/degassing, temperature control, seals, cleanability, and integration with upstream feed and downstream dispense/packaging.
• Own liquid dispensing systems including pumps, meters, valves, manifolds, tanks, pressure/vacuum and temperature control, and single- or multi-component meter-mix-dispense platforms.
• Automate production cells with sensors, motion, recipe/batch control, interlocks, data logging, and PLC/HMI/SCADA integration to maximize unattended or semi-attended operation.
• Lead capital equipment projects cradle-to-grave: vendor selection, design reviews, SOWs, procurement, factory acceptance testing (FAT) at vendor sites, site acceptance testing (SAT), installation, and ramp.
• Travel to vendors to execute FATs, validate rate/accuracy/repeatability/cleanability/safety, and drive design corrections before shipment.
• Productionize equipment and processes for new product introductions (NPIs), including work instructions, control plans, and rate capability demonstration.
• Partner with materials, quality, production, and design to ensure formulations are mixable and dispensable at scale and meet flight quality requirements.
• Drive root cause analysis, DOE, and SPC on mix and dispense performance; continuous improvement for throughput, changeover, cleanability, dust control, and cost.

Skills

Powder handling

Industrial mixers

Liquid dispensing

Automation controls

DOE/ SPC

Education

Bachelor's degree in chemical/mechanical/materials/manufacturing engineering

Tools

3D CAD (SolidWorks/NX/Inventor)

PLC/HMI

ERP/MRP exposure

Job description

SpaceX, located in Hawthorne, CA, seeks a Process Engineer, Machinery & Automation to lead design and deployment of powder handling, mixers, and liquid dispensing systems for Starship materials production. You will own equipment from procurement to FAT/SAT, driving automation and production ramp with minimal operator variation.

The role requires a Bachelor’s degree in a technical field and 3+ years in related equipment, with hands-on experience in powder/dispensing, mixers, and liquid