Power Plant Engineering Lead: Gas Turbines & Commissioning

SPACE EXPLORATION TECHNOLOGIES CORP; Brownsville (TX); On-site; USD 140,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

SpaceX in Brownsville, Texas is seeking a Sr. Power Plant Engineer to own the design, build, and operation of a large-scale gas turbine power plant.

You will oversee commissioning in the control room during startup and field troubleshooting to keep the plant running at rated output. You will coordinate with OEMs and balance-of-plant teams, lead or support major inspections, analyze performance data, and develop procedures to optimize reliability and efficiency in a demanding, fast-paced

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or related field.
• 5+ years of hands-on experience with utility-scale gas turbines in commissioning, operations, or maintenance roles.

Responsibilities

• Support full lifecycle of gas turbine power generation assets — installation, commissioning, startup, operations, and long-term maintenance
• Lead or support commissioning activities including combustion tuning, control system checkout, protective relay testing, and performance/reliability run verification
• Own root-cause analysis and corrective action for turbine trips, outages, and performance degradation; drive fixes to prevent recurrence
• Develop and refine operating procedures, startup/shutdown sequences, and abnormal operating condition playbooks
• Interface directly with OEMs on warranty issues, LTSA scope, outage planning, and technical issues
• Plan and execute major/minor inspections, hot gas path outages, and combustion inspections in line with OEM maintenance intervals
• Analyze turbine performance data to identify efficiency losses and recommend corrective action
• Coordinate with balance-of-plant teams to ensure integrated performance
• Build and maintain relationships with EPC contractors during construction handoff to ensure smooth transition to operations
• Develop spare parts strategy, critical spares inventory, and maintenance budgets

Skills

Gas turbines

Commissioning

Control systems

Root-cause analysis

Field troubleshooting

Education

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering or Electrical Engineering

Tools

SOLIDWORKS

Siemens NX

Job description

SpaceX in Brownsville, Texas is seeking a Sr. Power Plant Engineer to own the design, build, and operation of a large-scale gas turbine power plant.

You will oversee commissioning in the control room during startup and field troubleshooting to keep the plant running at rated output. You will coordinate with OEMs and balance-of-plant teams, lead or support major inspections, analyze performance data, and develop procedures to optimize reliability and efficiency in a demanding, fast-paced