Starshield Cyber Defense Lead

SPACE EXPLORATION TECHNOLOGIES CORP; Hawthorne (CA); On-site; USD 225,000 - 340,000; Full time

Job summary

SpaceX in Hawthorne, CA is seeking a Principal Cybersecurity Engineer (Starshield) to lead a team of engineers defending the Starshield network and testing defenses across the platform.

You will drive cyber defense strategy, run red-team style exercises, and lead vulnerability discovery to strengthen incident response and overall security posture for a highly sensitive government satellite constellation.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, computer engineering, computer security, or a similar field with 7+ years of cybersecurity experience on active production systems; or 10+ years of such experience.
• Experience leading a team of direct reports.
• Experience implementing systems for adversary detection and incident response.
• Advanced knowledge of networks and large-scale distributed compute platforms.
• Experience leading a 3–5 engineer cybersecurity team on technical projects.
• Expertise in vulnerability discovery and triage.
• Experience with continuity of operations planning.
• Experience with Blue/Red Team assessments.
• Ability to explain technical concepts to nontechnical audiences.
• Ability to handle ambiguity and learn new technologies quickly.
• Active Top Secret, Top Secret SCI, or DOE Level Q clearance.

Responsibilities

• Lead a team of cybersecurity engineers to prepare for immediate threat responses.
• Implement Starshield cyber defense strategy and develop countermeasures against threats.
• Lead vulnerability discovery and bug hunts across Starshield using AI tools.
• Improve incident discovery and response in collaboration with internal systems teams.
• Collaborate with engineers implementing security features and internal incident tools.

Skills

Team leadership

Threat detection

Incident response

Networks

Distributed compute

Vulnerability discovery

Vulnerability triage

COOP planning

Red/Blue team

Communication

Adaptability

Security clearance

Education

Bachelor’s degree in CS/CE/security

Advanced technical degree

Job description

SpaceX in Hawthorne, CA is seeking a Principal Cybersecurity Engineer (Starshield) to lead a team of engineers defending the Starshield network and testing defenses across the platform.

You will drive cyber defense strategy, run red-team style exercises, and lead vulnerability discovery to strengthen incident response and overall security posture for a highly sensitive government satellite constellation.