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Mechanical Design Engineer (Starship Components)

SpaceX· Components Test - Starship
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Hawthorne, CA$100k - $117.5kfull-timePosted 3mo ago

About the role

Mechanical design engineer focused on Starship/Super Heavy propulsion components, delivering end-to-end hardware design, testing, and integration with manufacturing and vehicle teams for high-rate production and reliability in extreme environments.

Responsibilities

  • Develop state-of-the-art, manufacturable flow control devices (valves, regulators, solenoids), mechanisms (flap/fin/payload door actuators), and electromechanical devices through end-to-end ownership (design, analysis, production layout, assembly, environmental testing, and vehicle integration) across Starship and Super Heavy stage systems.
  • Validate reliability of hardware and designs with rigorous testing: shock, vibration, thermal cycling, pressure cycling, and climatic exposure. Design experiments to ground analysis, develop fixturing, and create technical reports based on results
  • Partner with manufacturing, production, testing, and supply chain to achieve SpaceX’s highest-yet component build rate, striving for high factory yield and automotive volume/cost.
  • Generate and maintain detailed drawings, component specifications, analysis and risk assessments
  • Spearhead root cause investigations that arise in development, production, test, integration and launch, implement corrective actions to prevent repeat failures
  • Set the standard for rigorous component design and qualification testing, increasing scrutiny as the vehicle matures in pursuit of commercial and crewed orbital missions
  • Target zero in-flight anomalies of propulsion components. Reduce component-caused production and launch delays, and minimize containments
  • Act as the chief engineer, collaborating with stage/component teams to arrive at the simplest solution for the vehicle. Inform system-level architecture, with component capabilities and vulnerabilities in mind, to minimize cost of payload to orbit

Qualifications

  • Bachelor’s degree in physics or an engineering discipline
  • 1+ years of mechanical design/hands-on manufacturing experience

Skills

Required:Mechanical design of fluid and electromechanical systemsDesign for manufacturabilityTesting and validation methodsRoot cause analysis
Nice to have:Project management and cross-functional collaborationElectro-mechanical knowledge

Benefits

  • Comprehensive medical, vision, and dental coverage
  • 401(k) retirement plan
  • short and long-term disability insurance
  • life insurance
  • paid parental leave
  • 3 weeks of paid vacation and 10+ paid holidays per year
  • paid sick leave per company policy
  • Stock options or long-term incentives via equity, discretionary bonuses, and Employee Stock Purchase Plan
  • discounts and various other perks
Last updated Sep 16, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.

About SpaceX

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