Electric Propulsion Engineer, Mechanical (Starshield)

The posting, as SpaceX wrote it

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.

ELECTRIC PROPULSION ENGINEER, MECHANICAL (STARSHIELD)

Starshield leverages SpaceX's Starlink technology and launch capability to support national security efforts. While Starlink is designed for consumer and commercial use, Starshield is designed for government use, with an initial focus on earth observation, communications, and hosted payloads.

SpaceX is hiring an Electric Propulsion Engineer to join a collaborative engineering team working on design, analysis, build, and test of flight-qualified satellite electric propulsion systems for in-space constellations. In this role you will contribute end-to-end hardware ownership—from design through production support and qualification—for propulsion systems that must meet demanding flight reliability requirements through iterative design, test, and refinement.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Design, analyze, test, and provide operational support for high-volume production spacecraft electric propulsion hardware
• Partner with manufacturing to ensure designs enable efficient, reliable, high-rate production
• Design, build, modify, operate, and troubleshoot electric propulsion test facilities, including vacuum chambers, pressure systems, cryogenic pumps, data acquisition and control systems, and associated instrumentation
• Analyze and review test data with numerical tools to confirm hardware is operating as expected and inform design decisions
• Lead root-cause investigations and component redesigns to improve reliability and/or production rates
• Develop and execute qualification test plans for flight readiness (vibration, shock, thermal cycle, life cycle, fault injection)
• Make rigorous, risk-informed trades across cost, lead time, reliability, and performance to meet program reliability targets for mission-critical flight hardware
• Own critical spaceflight hardware end-to-end, with support from manufacturing, reliability, test, and operations teams
• Work as an integrated team, with daily interactions among technicians, engineers, and managers; identify and implement design and process improvements
• Communicate clearly under ambiguity, escalate technical and schedule risks early, and collaborate through disagreement

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical, aerospace, physics, or other engineering discipline
• 3+ years of total experience in one or a combination of the following: professional experience designing, testing, and analyzing electric propulsion systems; or related spacecraft propulsion, fluid, pressure, plasma, or thruster-adjacent hardware experience (e.g., thermal, structural, power, or diagnostics for EP/plasma systems)

PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

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Base salary is just one part of your total rewards package at SpaceX. You may also be eligible for long-term incentives, in the form of company stock or long-term cash awards, as well as potential discretionary bonuses and the ability to purchase additional stock at a discount through an Employee Stock Purchase Plan. You will also receive access to comprehensive medical, vision, and dental coverage, access to a 401(k) retirement plan, short and long-term disability insurance, life insurance, paid parental leave, and various other discounts and perks. You may also accrue 3 weeks of paid vacation and will be eligible for 10 or more paid holidays per year. Employees accrue paid sick leave pursuant to Company policy which satisfies or exceeds the accrual, carryover, and use requirements of the law.

Those with an active clearance will receive a 10% differential, up to an additional $20,000 annually, once officially briefed into a classified program.
ITAR REQUIREMENTS:

• 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 Affirmative Action Plan for veterans and individuals with disabilities, or applicants requiring reasonable accommodation to the application/interview process should reach out to EEOCompliance@spacex.com .