Structures Engineer (Starship Avionics)

Who you are

You hold a Bachelor's degree in mechanical or aerospace engineering and have a strong foundation in mechanical design principles. Your experience includes designing packaging solutions for electro-mechanical assemblies, ensuring they meet high reliability standards while minimizing weight and cost. You are skilled in conducting thermal, structural, and tolerance analysis using both hand calculations and finite element analysis, which allows you to validate your designs effectively.

You have a proven track record of participating in initial mechanical design phases, creating 3D models, and producing detailed production drawings. Your attention to detail ensures that all design data is meticulously maintained throughout the project lifecycle. You are adept at performing failure analysis of components, considering factors such as thermal loads, vibration, and shock, to enhance the robustness of your designs.

Your collaborative spirit shines through as you interface with machine shops and production teams, ensuring that final designs can be produced in accordance with project goals. You take ownership of hardware delivery timelines, guiding projects from inception through design, assembly, testing, and integration. Your leadership skills are evident as you lead design reviews internally and engage with suppliers and customers to align on project objectives.

You are innovative in your approach, ensuring that structural designs meet both weight and rate targets through creative design and manufacturing strategies. You thrive in a fast-paced environment where your contributions directly impact the future of space exploration.

Desirable

Experience with advanced materials and manufacturing processes is a plus, as is familiarity with aerospace industry standards and regulations. You are comfortable using CAD software and have a keen interest in the latest technologies that can enhance avionics systems.

What you'll do

As a Structures Engineer on the Starship Avionics team, you will be responsible for designing packaging solutions that protect electronics from the harsh conditions of launch vehicle operations. Your role will involve conducting thorough thermal, structural, and tolerance analyses to ensure that all designs meet the stringent reliability requirements of space missions. You will participate in the initial mechanical design process, creating 3D models and production drawings that will guide the manufacturing process.

You will conduct failure analyses to assess how components respond to thermal loads, vibrations, and shocks, providing critical insights that inform design improvements. Your collaboration with machine shops and production teams will be essential in ensuring that your designs are not only innovative but also manufacturable within project timelines.

You will lead design reviews, both internally and with external stakeholders, to ensure alignment on project goals and to gather feedback that can enhance the design process. Your ability to manage hardware delivery timelines will be crucial as you oversee the entire lifecycle of the hardware from design to integration.

In this role, you will leverage your engineering expertise to develop solutions that are not only effective but also cost-efficient, contributing to SpaceX's mission of enabling human life on Mars. You will be part of a dynamic team that is pushing the boundaries of aerospace engineering, and your work will have a direct impact on the future of space exploration.

What we offer

At SpaceX, you will be part of a pioneering team that is dedicated to making space travel a reality for humanity. We offer competitive compensation and benefits, along with opportunities for professional growth and development. You will work in a collaborative environment where innovation is encouraged, and your contributions will be valued. Join us in our mission to explore the stars and make history.