SpaceX
Electric Propulsion Engineer, Mechanical (Starshield)
About this role
SpaceX seeks a Mechanical Electric Propulsion Engineer to design, test, and qualify flight-ready satellite propulsion systems for the Starshield constellation. You'll own hardware end-to-end—from concept through production—ensuring high reliability for government space missions through iterative design, rigorous testing, and manufacturing collaboration.
What you'll do
- Design, analyze, test, and support production of spacecraft electric propulsion systems
- Partner with manufacturing to enable efficient, reliable high-rate production
- Design and operate test facilities including vacuum chambers, cryogenic systems, and data acquisition infrastructure
- Analyze test data and lead root-cause investigations to improve reliability and production rates
- Develop and execute qualification test plans for flight readiness across vibration, thermal, and life-cycle testing
- Make rigorous cost-reliability-performance trades to meet mission-critical flight hardware targets
What they're looking for
- Electric propulsion system design and analysis
- Test facility design and operation (vacuum, cryogenic, pressure systems)
- Mechanical engineering and CAD/FEA tools
- Data analysis and numerical modeling
- Spacecraft qualification testing (thermal, vibration, shock, life-cycle)
- Root-cause analysis and failure investigation
- Manufacturing process design and production optimization
- Risk assessment and engineering trade studies
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SpaceX
SpaceX develops advanced spacecraft and satellite systems, including the Starshield government satellite constellation and Starfall re-entry cargo capsule for global delivery. The company is hiring engineers in avionics integration, software test automation, mechanical design, and hardware reliability to validate flight-critical systems and ensure mission success.
- Website
- spacex.com
Likely interview questions
- Describe your experience designing or testing electric propulsion systems or similar spacecraft hardware—what were your key technical contributions?
- Walk us through how you've approached a complex hardware failure or reliability issue; how did you conduct the investigation and implement the fix?