SpaceX

New Graduate Engineer, Mechanical Design (Starshield)

SpaceX$100K — $130K *
Aerospace & Defense
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's degree in an engineering or STEM discipline
  • Experience with CAD or FEA software packages
  • Experience with mechanical or electromechanical design and analysis
  • Graduating with a degree between 2025-2027

Responsibilities

  • Own hardware from conceptual design to production
  • Develop design criteria and optimize systems
  • Iterate designs quickly for informed decision-making
  • Drive design for manufacturing with a focus on efficiency
  • Establish product lifecycle balance across supply chain and integration
  • Perform testing on hardware to validate designs
  • Own delivery timelines from conception to launch

Benefits

  • Comprehensive medical, vision, and dental coverage
  • Access to a 401(k) retirement plan
  • Paid parental leave and 3 weeks of paid vacation
  • Potential for company stock and long-term incentives
  • Paid sick leave as per company policy
  • Eligibility for discretionary bonuses
Full Job Description
NEW GRADUATE ENGINEER, MECHANICAL DESIGN (STARSHIELD)

Our SpaceX team is working on the toughest and most audacious projects on our planet: making humanity multiplanetary. As a Mechanical Design Engineer on the SpaceX team, you will demonstrate extreme ownership through detailed and thorough design, hardware bring-up/characterization/testing, and requirements generation/verification - ultimately seeing your hardware through all aspects of its life cycle. You will work with many cross-disciplinary teams and will need to think at a system level to ensure that your design is viable. Our development timelines are quick and you will need to rigorously explore solutions for previously unsolved or unknown problems. Every day, we push the limits of what is possible through innovation, determination, and teamwork to drive the mission to success.

RESPONSIBILITIES:
  • Own hardware and mechanisms from conceptual design through volume production and on-orbit operations to support various customers' needs
  • Develop design criteria, collaborate on requirements, and drive system-level optimization
  • Rapidly iterate on designs and analysis to inform high-level systems trades and steer overall product direction
  • Drive holistic DFM to create elegant designs with a focus on piece part and process count reductions, error-proofing at every step of fabrication and integration, and consistent performance and production metrics
  • Establish an efficient product lifecycle starting in the supply chain through final integration that balances cost, complexity, and quality; work closely with partner teams to design and realize an efficient in-house production line
  • Perform environmental and performance testing on hardware to validate analysis and demonstrate compliance with design criteria
  • Own product delivery timeline through conception, design, assembly, and launch
  • Demonstrate extreme ownership of product outcomes at every stage of development and production

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:
  • Bachelor's degree in an engineering or STEM discipline
  • Experience with CAD or FEA software packages (can be in a professional, academic, entrepreneurial, or hobby setting)
  • Experience with mechanical and/or electromechanical design and analysis (internship and extracurricular experience are applicable)
  • Graduating with a bachelor's degree, master's degree, or PhD in 2027

PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:
  • Master's degree in engineering or a related technical discipline
  • Ability and willingness to obtain a Top Secret clearance
  • Solid understanding and application of GD&T
  • Demonstrated ability to own hardware or systems within an integrated engineering team outside a classroom setting (FSAE, Engineers without Borders, Student Directed Research, Design-Build-Fly, NASA student launch, personal entrepreneurial ventures, etc.)
  • Demonstrated understanding of structural analysis and failure modes of complex mechanical systems
  • Self-motivated with strong organizational, written, and oral communication skills

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS:
  • 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 testing

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS:

Pay Range:
Level 1: $100,000.00 - $130,000.00
Level 2: $115,000.00 - $160,000.00

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.

Those with an active clearance will receive a 10% differential, up to an additional $20,000 annually, once officially briefed into a classified program.

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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