Senior Mechanical Engineer, Starship – Hands-On Flight Hardware

InvestedintheMission; Hawthorne (CA); On-site; USD 130,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock plan

Long-term incentives

Bonuses

Employee Stock Purchase Plan

Medical vision dental coverage

401(k) retirement plan

Disability insurance

Life insurance

Paid parental leave

Paid vacation

Paid holidays

Paid sick leave

Job summary

SpaceX in Hawthorne, CA is seeking a Principal Mechanical Engineer (Starship) to lead design and build of flight hardware such as propellant tanks and primary structures. You will own end-to-end processes, perform FE analyses, and validate components through testing alongside a world-class production team.

The role requires hands-on hardware ownership, strong CAD/FEA skills, and collaboration across disciplines to deliver high-performance spaceflight systems.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in engineering or related field.
• 7+ years of mechanical design and analysis experience.
• Experience with high-performance mechanical systems and structural analysis.

Responsibilities

• Develop design concepts from a clean sheet and size vehicle structures based on flight loads.
• Collaborate across vehicle systems to balance mass, cost, and capability.
• Create CAD models in NX for components, assemblies, and integration.
• Build FE models to validate designs against flight requirements.
• Apply first-order calculations to iterate designs rapidly.
• Validate designs via development articles and structural testing.
• Support assembly of hardware in the factory and witness first flight.
• Partner with build engineers to optimize designs and processes.

Skills

FEA / Multiphysics

NX CAD

Structural design

Python/ Matlab/ Excel

Cross-functional teamwork

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering

Tools

NASTRAN

ABAQUS

ANSYS

NX

Job description

SpaceX in Hawthorne, CA is seeking a Principal Mechanical Engineer (Starship) to lead design and build of flight hardware such as propellant tanks and primary structures. You will own end-to-end processes, perform FE analyses, and validate components through testing alongside a world-class production team.

The role requires hands-on hardware ownership, strong CAD/FEA skills, and collaboration across disciplines to deliver high-performance spaceflight systems.