Electric Propulsion Engineer, Mechanical (Starshield

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.

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, withan 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.

• Design, analyze, test, and provide operational support for high-volume production spacecraftelectricpropulsion 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 datawithnumericaltools to confirm hardware isoperatingas expected and inform design decisions
• Lead root-cause investigations andcomponentredesigns 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 operation steams
• Workasan integrated team,with daily interactions among technicians, engineers, and managers;identify and implement design and process improvements
• Communicate clearly under ambiguity, elevate technical and schedule risks early, and collaborate through disagreement

• 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)

• Demonstrated delivery ofhardwareforhigh-reliability or safety-critical use
• Working knowledge of structural design, materials properties,thermodynamics, fluid/pressure/vacuum systems,and numerical analysis programming(e.g.,Python, MATLAB); plasma physics as applicable(depth in several of these areas is valued; mastery of all is not expected)
• Experienceprioritizingconcurrent design, build, and test work against flight and production milestones
• Clear documentation habits and attention to detail appropriate for flight hardware
• Track record of improving designs and processes for reliability, rate, or quality
• Active Top Secret or Top Secret/SCI clearance, or ability and willingness to obtain aTop Secret clearance, is desired but not required

• An active clearance may provide the opportunity to work on sensitive SpaceX missions; if so, you will be subject to pre-employment drug and random drug and alcohol testing
• Ability to perform essential job duties that may include working in and around vacuum chambers- standing, kneeling, crouching, twisting the upper body, working in cramped positions in small openings, and climbing hand-over-hand. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the role
• Abilit…