PCB Designer; Starship

Overview

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.

PCB DESIGNER (STARSHIP)

The Starship team supports the mission to revolutionize orbital flight and space travel, opening access for humankind to establish new frontiers in space and ultimately become a multi-planetary species. Our team builds some of the most advanced electronics ever flown in space at a cost and rate previously considered unthinkable in the space industry. Become part of this fast moving and world class hardware development team, work with highly motivated engineers, and achieve audacious goals.

If you’re ready for a challenge and would like to help make our civilization multi-planetary, you’ve come to the right place.

As a PCB Designer on the Starship team, you’ll be responsible for creating the layout for all in‑house board designs. You’ll partner closely with Hardware Development Engineers as they develop their schematics, providing your expertise at each design review, iterating designs to achieve the best solutions, and contributing to a variety of design mixes from radio phased arrays to power converters and more.

• Determine layer stack‑up, component package selection, component placement, routing feasibility studies, and signal routing of digital, analog, RF, and power conversion for printed circuit boards (PCB).
• Perform multilayer PCB layout (20+ layers), including component placement, high‑speed routing (differential pairs, length matching), controlled impedance, and power/ground plane design.
• Conduct pre‑ and post‑layout SI/PI simulations to mitigate crosstalk, reflections, and EMI/EMC issues.
• Perform DRC/ERC checks, peer reviews, and design audits; collaborate with hardware/firmware engineers for functional validation and prototype bring‑up support.
• Produce fabrication deliverables (Gerber, ODB++, IPC‑2581, drill files, stack‑up drawings, assembly files).
• Analyze designs for manufacturability; incorporate production feedback from fabrication houses and assembly partners to reduce costs and improve yield.
• Collaborate with internal teams and PCB vendors to continually improve design rules, constraints and design for test and manufacture guidelines.
• Customize and verify symbols, footprints, and 3D models; interface with PCB librarians for new parts and resolve library discrepancies.
• Work with mechanical, thermal, RF, and test engineers on stack‑up planning, thermal vias, shielding, and enclosure integration; participate in design reviews and risk assessments.
• Assist librarians in creating, updating, and maintaining accurate PCB component libraries including symbols, footprints, 3D STEP models, and parametric data in CAD tools like Altium and Xpedition.
• Drive the future roadmap for Space
  
  X to incorporate custom AI tools to radically improve the efficiency of PCB design tasks.

• Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering OR 3+ years of professional experience with PCB layout in lieu of a degree (internships and club/project work applies).

• 2+ years of experience with PCB layout and routing in modern passive and active electronics components, surface‑mount, RF components, ball‑grid array and similar fine pitch/high pin density components.
• 1+ years of experience with ECAD libraries and library configuration management.
• Demonstrated understanding of design for manufacturability, assembly, and test.
• Experience with Mentor Xpedition and/or Altium Designer (Mentor Xpedition preferred).
• Experience with layout of mixed analog and digital designs, high speed buses, FPGA, DRAM and CPU designs, power supplies, DC‑DC converters, transmission lines, impedance‑controlled traces and power traces.
• Proficiency in generating fabrication outputs (Gerber, ODB++, IPC‑2581, drill files), DFM/DFA analysis, constraint‑driven design, and collaboration with libraries (symbols, footprints, 3D models).
• Ability to visualize component placement and interconnectivity.
• Profi…