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Build Reliability Engineer (Starship Valves & Components)

SpaceX· Build Reliability - Hawthorne
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Hawthorne, CA$100k - $117.5kFull-timePosted 3mo ago

About the role

Build Reliability Engineer focused on reliability of flight components and production assemblies for Starship valves and components. Responsible for developing and improving manufacturing and inspection processes, root cause analysis, and ensuring build-induced vehicle risk is minimized through data-driven decisions and hands-on collaboration across design, manufacturing, and production.

Responsibilities

  • Develop manufacturing, integration, assembly, welding, NDE, cleanliness, and checkouts processes from the ground up, then enforce consistency across different work centers.
  • Identify current reliability gaps in the manufacturing/design process, ideate on solutions and implement to continue to improve reliability without slowing down build rate
  • Responsible partner with design engineering and manufacturing teams through product development and production to create quality plans for flight hardware, including identification of key characteristics, prototype testing for functionality and manufacturability, first article and detailed inspection planning, and consideration of past failures and lessons learned
  • Monitor the success of products and processes through production ramp-up using a suite of quality and analysis tools
  • Conduct regular build quality reviews to ensure that design intent is achieved and well-communicated; identify opportunities for risk reduction and removal of complexity in designs and processes to improve manufacturability, collaborating with integrated product teams to drive improvements and address high-impact and repeating non-conformances
  • Investigate failures in production, test and flight, identifying and mitigating the immediate and underlying root causes in order to reduce risk and improve reliability of designs and processes
  • Design and implement tooling for work access, mechanical/avionics/propulsion testing, build fixturing, lifting & rigging, and fluids.
  • Define and document inspection requirements and procedures.
  • Contain suspect or known non-conforming product, providing guidance to quality inspectors, technicians, shop supervisors and engineers to assist in quarantining and rework activities across multiple sites

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, materials engineering, manufacturing engineering, chemical engineering, electrical engineering, or another STEM related field
  • 1+ years in a manufacturing, quality and/or design engineering role (student project team or internship experience qualifies)

Skills

Required:Reliability engineeringRoot cause analysisProcess developmentData analysis and visualization
Nice to have:Quality tools (e.g., PFMEA, SPC, DOE, MSA)Welding and fabrication knowledge

Benefits

  • Long-term incentives, including stock options or long-term cash awards, potential 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 and holidays (3 weeks vacation, 10+ paid holidays per year)
  • Other discounts and perks
Last updated Oct 21, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.

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