Supplier Development Engineer, Silicon; Starlink

Bastrop, TX

Space

X was founded under the belief that a future where humanity explores the stars is fundamentally more exciting than one where we do not. Today Space

X is actively developing the technologies to make this possible, with the ultimate goal of enabling human life on Mars.

Starlink User Terminal business is experiencing exponential growth across consumer, retail, enterprise, and mobility applications. This rapid expansion requires a highly resilient and scalable supply chain for custom silicon, wafers, and advanced packaging. The role involves early engagement in supplier selection, equipment selection, and process engineering to set programs up for success in high-volume manufacturing by ensuring material and process corners are fully completed.

The role also includes ownership to deliver on time, monitor field performance, react to issues, and feed lessons learned back to engineering teams for iterative improvement.

We are seeking a technically strong Supplier Development Engineer to drive end-to-end supplier development for the silicon and packaging portfolio – from strategic supplier selection and new product introduction through high-volume production scaling and reactive quality support. The ideal candidate will bring substantial industry experience across front-end wafer fabrication, back-end packaging and assembly, and silicon test, along with the ability to provide technology guidance on process nodes and packaging technologies.

The Supplier Development Engineer, Silicon will be responsible for executing supplier strategies focused on wafer fabrication, advanced packaging, and silicon test. This position will have significant technical influence across Starlink engineering, quality, and supply chain teams.

• Own end-to-end supplier development for the silicon, wafer, and packaging portfolio within the Starlink User Terminal Bill of Materials, spanning strategic supplier selection, new product introduction, qualification, production ramp, and reactive quality support.
• Engage early with suppliers on selection, equipment selection, and process engineering to properly set up high-volume manufacturing programs by ensuring material and process corners are fully characterized and completed.
• Provide technology guidance to cross‑functional teams on front‑end process node selection such as 7 nm, 5 nm, and 3 nm complementary metal‑oxide‑semiconductor technologies, as well as back‑end packaging technologies including flip‑chip bumping, wafer‑level packaging, fan‑out, 2.5D and 3D integration, and system‑in‑package solutions.
• Assess supplier manufacturing capabilities across front‑end and back‑end processes, including wafer fabrication capacity, process stability, equipment suitability, process windows, yield learning, and overall technical readiness for high‑volume silicon production.
• Lead new product introduction activities, production part approval process, first‑article inspections, production rate ramps, and reliability campaigns to enable full‑rate, high‑volume manufacturing of wafers and packaged devices.
• Develop and execute robust qualification plans covering front‑end, back‑end, and test, including wafer‑level reliability testing, package qualification, high‑temperature operating life testing, highly accelerated stress testing, thermal cycling, electromigration testing, and full silicon test coverage validation.
• Create and standardize qualification protocols across the silicon supply base, including equipment buy‑off checklists, factory acceptance tests, site acceptance tests, and consistent reliability demonstration methods for both wafer foundries and outsourced semiconductor assembly and test suppliers.
• Drive supplier performance improvement through Lean methodologies, supplier scorecards, process audits, and systematic problem solving to deliver measurable gains in quality, cost, yield, and on‑time delivery.
• Perform reactive quality engineering support, including rapid containment, root‑cause analysis using eight‑discipline and five‑whys methodologies, and corrective actions for quality escapes, field returns, and production issues.
• Own on‑time delivery of qualification…