SpaceX

Lead Hardware Reliability Engineer, Electrical (Starshield)

SpaceX$140K — $205K *
Aerospace & Defense
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering, physics, or related discipline.
  • 3+ years of experience in hardware development, failure analysis, or reliability engineering (internships acceptable).
  • 1+ years of experience leading projects, teams, or people.
  • Active Top Secret, Top Secret SCI, or DOE Level Q clearance, or willingness to obtain one.

Responsibilities

  • Lead and hire a team of electrical hardware reliability engineers for Starshield.
  • Provide technical mentorship and guidance for root cause investigations of hardware failures.
  • Align goals and priorities with production and partner engineering teams.
  • Create personalized career growth plans for team members.
  • Drive corrective actions for products failing design specs through data analysis.
  • Proactively escalate major hardware issues and maintain team alignment.
  • Document failure analysis findings, test results, and corrective actions.

Benefits

  • Comprehensive medical, vision, and dental coverage.
  • Access to a 401(k) retirement plan with employer contributions.
  • Paid parental leave and vacation (3 weeks accrued annually).
  • Short and long-term disability insurance and life insurance.
  • Opportunity for employee stock purchase at a discount.
Full Job Description
LEAD ELECTRICAL HARDWARE RELIABILITY ENGINEER (STARSHIELD)

Starshield leverages SpaceX's Starlink technology and launch capability to support national security efforts. While Starlink is designed for consumer and commercial use, Starshield is designed for government use, with an initial focus on earth observation, communications, and hosted payloads.

This is an opportunity to build and lead an electrical hardware reliability team for Starshield. In addition to hiring top-notch electrical engineers you will work on identifying, analyzing, and resolving hardware failures to improve the robustness and longevity of our PCBAs. This role involves collaborating with cross-functional teams, including electrical, mechanical, software, and supply chain, to enhance the overall reliability of Starshield hardware. This is an opportunity to work on cutting-edge R&D technology and some of the most complex applications of electrical engineering in the industry

RESPONSIBILITIES:
  • Lead and hire a team of electrical hardware reliability engineers supporting Starshield production
  • Provide technical mentorship and guidance to team members leading root cause investigations of electrical hardware
  • Align goals and priorities with production and partner engineering teams to achieve program reliability and rate objectives
  • Collaborate with team members to create personalized career growth plans that build their technical capabilities and accelerate progress toward their professional goals
  • Drive corrective action to products not meeting design specifications through data driven decisions using yield and defect monitoring to identify common failure modes
  • Proactively escalate major hardware concerns, secure appropriate resources, and maintain clear communication to drive timely resolution and team alignment
  • Maintain thorough documentation of failure analysis findings, test results, and corrective actions
  • Collaborate with on-orbit reliability team, driving timely improvements to production through on-orbit investigation findings

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:
  • Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering, physics, or other engineering discipline
  • 3+ years of experience in hardware development, failure analysis, or reliability engineering (internships and co-ops acceptable)
  • 1+ years of experience leading a project, team, or people

PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:
  • Strong analytical skills with an excellent ability to communicate and collaborate with partners in all disciplines at multiple levels in the organization
  • Demonstrated ability to advocate for and implement robust solutions that stand the test of time
  • Experience deploying large-scale and/or high impact solutions in a manufacturing environment
  • Experience with digital and mixed-signal designs, power electronics, or RF electronics using oscilloscopes, signal generators, digital multimeters, power supplies, and soldering equipment
  • Demonstrated experience troubleshooting and root causing electrical hardware failures
  • PCBA Fabrication experience (familiar with solder, flux, underfill, staking, reflow, temperature control, etc.)
  • Experience with environmental testing such as HALT/HASS, thermal, vibration, and TVAC
  • Experience with RF test equipment (e.g. vector network analyzer, spectrum analyzer) and concepts such as S-parameters, impedance matching, and antenna designs
  • Active Top Secret, Top Secret SCI, or DOE Level Q clearance, or the ability and willingness to obtain one

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS:
  • Able to work extended hours and weekends as needed
  • An active clearance may provide the opportunity for you to work on sensitive SpaceX missions; if so, you will be subject to pre-employment drug and random drug and alcohol tests

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS:

Pay Range:
$140,000.00 - $205,000.00

Your actual level and base salary will be determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on the following considerations: job-related knowledge and skills, education, and experience.

Base salary is just one part of your total rewards package at SpaceX. You may also be eligible for long-term incentives, in the form of company stock or long-term cash awards, as well as potential discretionary bonuses and the ability to purchase additional stock at a discount through an Employee Stock Purchase Plan. You will also receive access to comprehensive medical, vision, and dental coverage, access to a 401(k) retirement plan, short and long-term disability insurance, life insurance, paid parental leave, and various other discounts and perks. You may also accrue 3 weeks of paid vacation and will be eligible for 10 or more paid holidays per year. Employees accrue paid sick leave pursuant to Company policy which satisfies or exceeds the accrual, carryover, and use requirements of the law.

ITAR REQUIREMENTS:
  • To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. a7 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. a7 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here.

About SpaceX

SpaceX is an American aerospace manufacturer and space transportation services company founded in 2002 by entrepreneur Elon Musk. The company designs, manufactures, and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft. SpaceX has developed the Falcon 1, Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, and Dragon spacecraft. The company was founded with the goal of reducing space transportation costs and enabling the colonization of Mars. SpaceX has achieved several milestones in spaceflight, including the first privately-funded liquid-propellant rocket to reach orbit, the first privately-funded company to send a spacecraft to the International Space Station, and the first privately-funded company to send a human-rated spacecraft to orbit.
Learn more about SpaceX
Size
8,000 employees
Industry
Founded
2002

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