Senior Power Plant Engineer - Field Startup & Commissioning

SpaceX; Pennsylvania; On-site; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

SpaceX is seeking a Sr. Power Plant Engineer to design, build, and operate state-of-the-art gas turbine power plants. You will own commissioning in the control room during startup, and you will troubleshoot in the field to keep the plant running at rated output.

You will coordinate with OEMs, inspect balance-of-plant components, and develop procedures for startup, shutdown, and normal operation. A proactive, hands-on leader is essential for success in this role at SpaceX.

Qualifications

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

Responsibilities

• Support the full lifecycle of gas turbine power generation assets—installation, commissioning, startup, operations, and long-term maintenance.
• Lead or support commissioning activities including combustion tuning and control system checkout.
• Own root-cause analysis 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 with OEMs on warranty issues, LTSA scope, outage planning, and technical issues.

Skills

Gas turbine experience

Field commissioning

Troubleshooting

Strong ownership

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering

Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering

Tools

SOLIDWORKS

Siemens NX

Mark VIe/SPPA-T3000

Job description

SpaceX is seeking a Sr. Power Plant Engineer to design, build, and operate state-of-the-art gas turbine power plants. You will own commissioning in the control room during startup, and you will troubleshoot in the field to keep the plant running at rated output.

You will coordinate with OEMs, inspect balance-of-plant components, and develop procedures for startup, shutdown, and normal operation. A proactive, hands-on leader is essential for success in this role at SpaceX.