Sr. Supplier Development Engineer; Starshield

Hawthorne, CA

Space

X 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 Space

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

Starshield leverages Space

X’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. The Starshield team is building highly reliable in‑space mesh networks, designing secure systems to guarantee access to space, designing next‑gen communication and sensing software, and more.

• Own and manage PCBA processes and PCBA products for the Starshield supply chain
• Own continuity of supply for electronic products on the Starshield program, ensuring internal production has infeed assemblies needed to build to program level volume targets
• Collaborate with design engineers to gain an in-depth knowledge of piece part, assembly, and/or sub‑system design intent
• Support the procurement team to strategically source parts matched with supplier competencies by reviewing and assessing supplier manufacturing processes and quality systems
• Create and define supplier technical requirements and flow downs to meet hardware manufacturing needs
• Implement and monitor the Production Part Approval Process (PPAP) with selected suppliers to enable rate production
• Assure supplier understanding of product and submission requirements
• Develop and approve process controls to control critical characteristics
• Recommend technical product improvements to reduce risk and potential defect opportunities
• Analyze supplier quality and delivery metrics to identify trends and pinpoint systemic performance gaps and root causes to drive supplier improvement plans
• Provide feedback as appropriate on manufacturing methods, with a specific focus on eliminating costs, reducing cycle times, and increasing yields
• Function as liaison between purchasing, engineering, manufacturing, and suppliers to resolve supplier quality issues and to provide technical support
• Drive supplier corrective actions associated with any escapes or containments identified in Production and Supply Chain
• Collaborate with teams, lead projects, and continuously drive improvement in the supply base with a focus on reductions in cycle time, nominal cost, and cumulative scrap

• Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, material science engineering, hardware engineering, engineering physics, or other engineering discipline
• 5+ years of experience in PCBA manufacturing, SMT processing and/or microelectronics packaging either from industry, research, or academic projects
• 5+ years in a manufacturing, reliability, and/or design engineering role (student project team or internship experience qualifies)

• Knowledge of supplier quality processes (production part approval process, advanced product quality planning, first article inspection reports, etc.)
• Knowledge of statistical techniques and methods, e.g., design of experiments, Six Sigma, etc.
• Experience with quality systems (ISO 9000/TS/AS9100/NADCAP)
• Knowledge of IPC manufacturing standards
• Knowledge of lean concepts
• Experience with basic failure analysis tools and methods (X‑ray, cross‑section, polishing)
• Experience with sharing information and influencing others across organizational lines, internally and externally
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, ability to make presentations to suppliers, team members, and management
• Ability and willingness to obtain a Top Secret clearance

• Role is in office and located in Hawthorne, CA
• An active clearance may provide the opportunity for you to work on sensitive Space
  
  X missions; if so, you will be subject to pre‑employment drug and random drug and alcohol testing
• Must be willing to work long hours and weekends when needed to meet critical deadlines
• Ability to…