Manager, Vehicle Engineer; Starlink Aviation

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.

Starlink Aviation installs high-speed, low-latency broadband on aircraft. The Manager, Vehicle Engineering manages the vehicle leads who own airframe product lines: the roadmap of airframe features, demand, delivery, and performance.

This is a senior engineering manager who is still a strong individual-contributor engineer and planner. The role reports to the Director, Starlink Aviation Mission Management. Success is released, applicable designs and factory capacity allocated so customer activations can occur on schedule, with hardware that remains in service.

• Hire, develop, and performance-manage vehicle leads for assigned aircraft types
• Own the product roadmap for each assigned airframe, from prospects and development through customer launch and in-service reliability, including the features required to meet customer needs.
• Sequence demand, design changes, configuration upgrades, and improvements in installation time, reliability, and cost into production, with named owners and measurable results.
• Own the live plan. Keep aircraft data, intake forms, surveys, and customer requirements current with Fleet Operations and Mission Management so the plan stays detailed and executable.
• Own customer requirements for the life of the product. Question, accept, or reject them as appropriate, decide customer-impacting trades, and contribute to Statements of Work before deal closure.
• Own the fleet configuration matrix and kit definition, including antenna, power, router, cabin networking, and related hardware. Decide which configuration applies from customer data, in production and in the field.
• Own engineering change and issue records for assigned part numbers. Release masters, bills of materials, drawings, and change records in ERP/PLM before production commits a slot.
• Set installation architecture standards for antenna mounting, equipment placement, power, harnessing, and cabin networking, and close trades on mass, drag, radio-frequency performance, and install hours.
• Align software, maintenance, integration design, operations, and quality to one shared, executable requirements set for the airframe and the customer.
• Lead certification strategy and execution, including supplemental type certificates, approved model lists, test plans, conformity, and engagement with the FAA, EASA, and designated engineering representatives.
• Own production and supply-chain readiness. Secure and allocate factory capacity and build-plan positions so output matches customer activation priorities.
• Drive the airframe schedule, clear critical-path blockers, and elevate in time to hold or improve customer launch dates.
• Own in-service reliability, including field failures, dispatch risk, and the design queue that keeps aircraft flying. Turn on-wing findings into the standard design or process.
• Support first-of-type installations on site, and travel to airline and maintenance sites for first articles, fleet assessments, and escalations.
• Be the single point of contact for the airframe’s status, capabilities, and production readiness, coordinating certification, manufacturing, engineering, quality, Mission Management, and the customer.
• Brief leadership on roadmap status, design readiness, production rate, and risk to activation dates.

• Bachelor’s degree in aerospace, mechanical, electrical, aeronautical, or other engineering discipline
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