Welding Engineer (Starship)

SPACE EXPLORATION TECHNOLOGIES CORP; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 90,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

SpaceX is seeking a Welding Engineer (Starship) to support the development of Starship launch vehicles. The welding engineer will help develop, qualify, and optimize welding designs and processes.

The engineer will interface daily with design-and-build engineers to make welding improvements and enforce standardized practices and procedures on multiple welded assemblies. The position requires a Bachelor’s degree in engineering and 1+ years of hands-on fabrication or testing.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering required; 1+ years hands-on fabrication, manufacturing, or testing welded assemblies.
• Master’s degree in welding engineering or related program preferred.
• Experience with stainless steel, nickel-based, titanium, copper, and aluminum alloys.
• Knowledge of welding processes including EB, laser, plasma arc, resistance, friction-stir, TIG, MMA.
• Robot programming experience for automated welding solutions.
• Tooling design to reduce distortion and improve weld quality.
• Familiarity with standards (ASTM E8, E399, E740; ISO 15653; AWS D17.X/C7.X).
• Willingness to work long hours and weekends as needed.

Responsibilities

• Develop, qualify, and optimize weld processes and parameters for multiple welding processes.
• Support production operations on full-scale welded assemblies in a fast-paced environment.
• Support design, manufacturing, and materials engineering with root cause analysis.
• Collaborate with design, tooling, automation, and development engineers to improve welded designs.
• Plan welding qualification test campaigns and interpret mechanical testing and NDE results.
• Work with NDE personnel to interpret weld quality on development and flight hardware.
• Develop and implement improved process control using test and NDE results.
• Set up automated welding solutions to drive consistency.
• Scope out new welding technologies to improve rate/quality/efficiency.

Skills

Welding processes

NDE interpretation

Root cause analysis

Robot programming

Tooling design

Welding process optimization

Education

Bachelor’s degree in engineering

Master’s degree in welding engineering

Tools

Electron beam welding

Laser beam welding

NDE instrumentation

Job description

SpaceX was founded under the belief that a future where humanity is out exploring the stars is fundamentally more exciting than one where we are not. Today SpaceX is actively developing the technologies to make this possible, with the ultimate goal of enabling human life on Mars.

WELDING ENGINEER (STARSHIP)

This position will support the development of SpaceX’s Starship launch vehicles alongside a strong design-and-build engineering group. The welding engineer will help develop, qualify, and optimize welding designs and processes. The engineer will interface daily with design-and-build engineers to make welding improvements and enforce standardized practices and procedures on multiple welded assemblies.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Develop, optimize, and qualify weld processes and parameters for multiple welding processes, including but not limited to electron beam welding, laser beam welding, gas tungsten arc welding, orbital tube welding, resistance welding, gas metal arc welding, friction stir welding, and plasma arc welding
• Support production operations on full-scale welded assemblies, providing direction to manufacturing engineers and welders on correct techniques in a fast-paced manufacturing environment
• Support design, manufacturing, and materials engineering with root cause analysis
• Work closely with design, tooling, automation, and development engineers to improve welded designs for manufacturing
• Set up welding qualification test campaigns and interpret mechanical testing and NDE results
• Work closely with NDE personnel to interpret weld quality on development and flight hardware in addition to developing and implementing innovative state-of-the-art NDE techniques
• Develop and implement improved process control where possible using test and NDE results as a feedback loop
• Set up automated welding solutions in an effort to drive process consistency
• Scope out new welding technologies that may be employed to improve rate/quality/efficiency

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor’s degree in an engineering discipline
• 1+ years of experience with hands-on fabrication, manufacturing, or testing experience of welded assemblies

PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:

• Master’s degree in welding engineering or related technical program
• Hands-on welding experience in stainless steel, nickel-based, titanium, copper, and aluminum alloys
• Experience with brazing, joining, and metallographic interpretation
• Fundamental understanding of welding processes including, but not limited to, electron beam, laser beam, plasma arc, resistance, friction-stir, gas tungsten arc, and gas metal arc
• Robot programming experience for automated welding solutions
• Tooling design experience for welded assemblies to reduce part distortion and improve part consistency
• Understanding of weld strength testing methodologies, standards, and data acquisition systems used to make informed welding decisions (ASTM E8, E399, E740, ISO 15653, AWS D17.X, AWS C7.X, thermos-couples, strain gages, etc.)
• Experience with root cause analysis and corrective actions including, but not limited to, optical and SEM fractography/metallography, hardness, chemical analysis, and mechanical testing
• Self-motivated engineer with keen attention to detail

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS:

• Must be willing to work long hours and weekends as needed to support and maintain build schedules
• Ability to perform job duties that require standing, kneeling, crouching, twisting upper body, working in cramped positions in small openings, and climbing hand over hand
• Strong ability to multi-task and communicate status and results with a broad spectrum of internal and external departments
• To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here .

SpaceX is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with SpaceX is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.

Applicants wishing to view a copy of SpaceX’s Aff… or applicants requiring reasonable accommodation to the application/interview process should reach out to [e-mail].