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Sr. Critical Lift & Transport Engineer (Starship)

SpaceX· Starship Critical Lift & Transport
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Starbase, TXfull-timePosted 8mo ago

About the role

Senior role focused on leading critical lift and transport operations for Starship and Super Heavy, coordinating multi-disciplinary teams, ensuring safety, compliance, and on-time delivery of heavy-lift campaigns.

Responsibilities

  • Lead the planning, analysis, and execution of complex critical lifts and heavy-haul transports for hardware >100 tons, ensuring zero-incident safety compliance and mission-critical timelines.
  • Develop advanced lift plans, rigging designs, and multi-modal transport strategies using tools such as FEA, CAD, simulations, wind/load interaction analysis, and risk assessments.
  • Serve as primary technical authority, coordinating with leadership across structures, manufacturing, launch operations, and supply chain to integrate lift/transport into program plans and schedules.
  • Coordinate with cross-functional teams to assess hardware mass properties, rigging/connection locations, structural capability, stability, and load paths during lifts and transports.
  • Specify, procure, qualify, and oversee deployment of specialized equipment fleets (e.g., crawler cranes, SPMTs, hydraulic jacks and gantries) including custom integrations; lead FMEA and vendor qualification.
  • Supervise on-site execution teams, conduct pre-lift dry runs, resolve anomalies, and perform post-operation root-cause analyses for fleet-wide improvements.
  • Conduct risk assessments, hazard analyses, and fatigue/stress analyses for lifts exceeding standard capacities.
  • Negotiate and manage contracts with external partners for global heavy-lift and transport services and emergency response capabilities.
  • Author and maintain engineering standards, lift/transport work orders, and digital libraries for knowledge transfer.
  • Maintain documentation including calculations, drawings, and reports for regulatory audits and lessons learned.
  • Communicate plans to leadership, mentor junior staff, and lead cross-discipline training programs.
  • Support off-hour operations with real-time troubleshooting during high-visibility lifts or transports.
  • Drive continuous improvement in lift/transport processes and adoption of new technologies.
  • Present certification packages and engineering data to US government agencies (NASA, US Space Force and others).

Qualifications

  • Bachelor’s degree in an engineering discipline
  • 5+ years of hands-on experience with mechanical and structural hardware
  • 2+ years of experience with crane lifting, crane rigging or crane transport operations

Skills

Required:Engineering judgment and communicationProject coordination and cross-functional collaborationRisk assessment and analysis
Last updated Jul 8, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.

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