Mechanical Engineer - Manufacturing Machinery, Satellites (Starlink)

SpaceX•Redmond, WA

5d•Onsite

About The Position

At SpaceX, we are leveraging our experience in building rockets and spacecraft to deploy Starlink, the world’s most advanced broadband internet system. Starlink is the world’s largest satellite constellation and provides fast, reliable internet to millions of users worldwide. We design, build, test, and operate all parts of the system – thousands of satellites, consumer receivers that allow users to connect within minutes of unboxing, and the software that brings it all together. We’ve only begun to scratch the surface of Starlink’s potential global impact and are looking for best-in-class engineers to help maximize Starlink’s utility for communities and businesses around the globe. SpaceX Gateways are responsible for delivering internet from the ground to the satellites – they must be cost effective, capable of high performance in all weather conditions, and reliable over long periods of time. A critical component of the Gateway antenna is the TWT amplifier, which this role is for. The TWTA team is advancing state of the art RF vacuum electronics, building hardware an order of magnitude faster than traditional industry, for an order of magnitude less cost. This role will take full ownership over their hardware: urgently troubleshooting issues, performing hands-on testing to inform development or root cause investigations, implementing design or manufacturing upgrades to improve rate and reliability.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in a STEM discipline
1+ years of experience designing, building, testing, or troubleshooting hardware via professional work experience, project/research-based student experience, or a combination of both

Nice To Haves

Demonstrated full-cycle ownership of a hardware project from concept to implementation
Exhibit a diverse technical knowledge of materials and their processing, with experience in high temperature processing (braze)
Understanding of fundamental principals in materials science and solid mechanics
Self-motivated with strong organizational, written, and oral communication skills

Responsibilities

Design the factory and processes to enable rapid, reliable, and low-cost manufacturing of state of the art vacuum technology
Work with partner teams to develop novel manufacturing procedures
Manage new product introduction and develop production processes for TWTA assemblies
Work with manufacturers and suppliers to implement process improvements to improve reliability
Collaborate with design teams and provide design feedback to improve manufacturability, cost and reliability
Perform environmental and performance testing on hardware to validate analysis and demonstrate compliance to design criteria
Demonstrate extreme ownership of product outcomes at every stage of development and production