Integration Engineer, Heatshield (Starship)

SpaceX • Starbase, TX, TX

3d • Onsite

About The Position

The Integration Engineer will work on Starship’s Thermal Protection System (TPS), which must withstand the extreme heat generated during hypersonic atmospheric reentry. The thermal hardware team is responsible for designing, analyzing, integrating, and continually improving Starship’s reentry heatshield and structures. This role works closely with production to build, integrate, test, and refurbish heatshield hardware, and helps inform design updates for flight reliability, production efficiency, and future heatshield architectures. Based at Starbase, the position divides time between the office and production floor.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in materials science, mechanical engineering, materials engineering, or aerospace engineering.
• At least 1 year of engineering experience designing, analyzing, or building mechanical or thermal systems; internship and school project experience qualify.
• Ability to work extended hours and weekends as necessary.
• Ability to travel domestically.
• Ability to pass an Air Force background check for Cape Canaveral.
• Must meet U.S. Government export-control eligibility requirements: be a U.S. citizen or national, lawful permanent resident, refugee, or asylee, or be eligible to obtain required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.

Nice To Haves

• At least 3 years of hands-on build and test experience with thermal protection, structural, or mechanical systems.
• Strong fundamentals in the materials and mechanisms by which thermal protection systems operate.
• Experience with hardware that performs in challenging thermal environments, such as rockets, reentry vehicles, or other extreme-temperature applications.
• Ability to manage multiple complex projects in parallel, stay organized, and communicate clearly.
• Familiarity and experience with production, installation, qualification, and use of thermal protection system materials.
• Experience using Siemens NX or similar CAD software.
• Ability to perform basic thermal or mechanical analysis.

Responsibilities

• Integrate and test heatshield hardware on assembled ships.
• Evaluate flown ships and coordinate repair and replacement of heatshield tiles and related hardware.
• Drive design solutions toward a fully reusable heatshield.
• Work closely with the production team and hands-on with hardware.
• Troubleshoot build issues and improve production processes.
• Design tooling to improve efficiency and reliability.
• Write instructions for efficient and reliable production.
• Test and qualify new or refined thermal protection system solutions.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level