Principal Mechanical Engineer (Starship)
SpaceX· Ship Engineering
Hawthorne, CA$130k - $180kFull-timePosted 5mo ago
About the role
Principal Mechanical Engineer responsible for designing and building flight hardware for Starship, including propellant tanks, integration interfaces, primary structures, and structural subassemblies. Hands-on hardware ownership with end-to-end responsibility, design for manufacturability, and collaboration across systems to optimize mass, cost, and capability.
Responsibilities
- Develop design concepts from a clean sheet and size vehicle structures based on flight loads
- Collaborate with peers from different vehicle systems to develop designs that balance mass, cost, and capability
- Create detailed designs to implement structural concepts and generate CAD models in NX for components, assemblies, and vehicle integration
- Build finite element models to assess your designs in detail and analyze your structures to prove they meet the needs of the vehicle
- Apply first-order hand calculations and empirical formulas to assess and iterate on your designs rapidly
- Validate your designs by building development articles to test individual joints and design elements for strength
- Perform structural testing on subassemblies and full sections of the airframe
- Partner with build engineers and technicians to improve your designs
- Support the assembly of your hardware in the factory, witness your designs being brought to life daily, and watch them take flight and make history
Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in an engineering discipline
- 7+ years of experience with mechanical design and analysis
Skills
Required:Mechanical designCAD modeling
Nice to have:Finite element analysis (FEA)Material selection and manufacturing methodsHands-on hardware ownershipCross-functional collaborationProgramming / data analysis
Benefits
- Long-term incentives (stock or long-term cash awards)
- Discretionary bonuses and Employee Stock Purchase Plan
- Comprehensive medical, vision, and dental coverage
- 401(k) retirement plan
- Short and long-term disability insurance
- Life insurance
- Paid parental leave
- Paid vacation (3 weeks) and 10+ paid holidays per year
- Paid sick leave per company policy
Last updated Sep 23, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.
About SpaceX
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