Oxygen Propulsion Test Engineer

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

Job summary

SpaceX is seeking a TEST ENGINEER for OXYGEN to support Starship oxygen systems. The role focuses on designing, fabricating and operating test hardware, executing campaigns, analyzing data, and ensuring safety and reliability of high-pressure oxygen systems across ground and flight hardware.

The candidate will develop test procedures, automate operations, and collaborate with design engineers to qualify test stands while maintaining rigorous safety standards.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, electrical engineering or other engineering field.
• 1+ years of hands-on testing experience (internships or clubs qualify).

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute tests at the material, component and subsystem level to evaluate hardware performance and survivability during the mission.
• Design, fabricate and operationalize novel test capabilities intended to assess material/component flammability in high pressure oxygen environments.
• Facilitate oxygen system risk analysis by defining test strategies, developing data, and collaborating with design engineers to qualify test stand and flight hardware.
• Repeated ownership of test campaigns, including test plan creation, new system activation, test operations, data review, and test stand equipment design/fabrication.
• Provide daily direction and instruction to technicians to fabricate and integrate test articles and stand equipment.
• Develop and maintain test procedures, sequences, scripts, configuration files, and software.
• Operate and troubleshoot data acquisition and control systems, wiring, and instrumentation.
• Operate and troubleshoot fluid and mechanical systems that include low to high-pressure gaseous working fluids and rocket propellants (including hypergols & cryogenics) as well as structural components and supporting infrastructure.
• Operate mechanical systems; these include test stand support structures, heat exchangers, vacuum pumps, tooling, and fluid components such as valves, reliefs, burst disks, tubing, etc.
• Automate repetitive test operations to increase efficiency and safety. Develop innovative processes to increase testing capability and rates, while maintaining high rigor of safety.
• Identify and characterize system pitfalls and potential hazards then work to resolve such anomalies by collaborating with design engineers on improvements for test stands and flight hardware.

Skills

Mechanical systems

Propulsion systems

Oxygen systems

High-pressure design

Instrumentation and control

3D modeling (Siemens NX)

Python

C++

Data analysis

Team collaboration

Education

Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering

Tools

Siemens NX

Inventor

CATIA

Job description

SpaceX is seeking a TEST ENGINEER for OXYGEN to support Starship oxygen systems. The role focuses on designing, fabricating and operating test hardware, executing campaigns, analyzing data, and ensuring safety and reliability of high-pressure oxygen systems across ground and flight hardware.

The candidate will develop test procedures, automate operations, and collaborate with design engineers to qualify test stands while maintaining rigorous safety standards.