Mechanical Engineer - Tooling/Controls, Satellites (Starlink)
About The Position
As a member of the Starlink satellite mechanical team you will stand up the in-house, high-rate manufacturing tooling used to make custom optical fiber connections for Starlink. You will get to own the whole production system: establish requirements, processes, and design custom machinery to enable high-rate production. Using your expertise in mechanical design and machine controls, you will implement, simplify, and automate high-reliability manufacturing processes to scale production for a variety of Starlink vehicles. Your tooling will be used by different teams at Starlink spanning from operator-assisted stations to automated cells, and will build mission-critical hardware that is pivotal to the success of our next generation satellites.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in mechanical, mechatronics, electrical, manufacturing, or a related engineering/STEM discipline
- 1+ years of experience designing mechanical systems using 3D CAD software and 2D drawings (internships, co-ops, and university projects can apply)
- 1+ years of experience implementing controls on mechanical systems - motion, sensors, actuators, PLC or equivalent (internships, co-ops, and university project can apply)
Nice To Haves
- 3+ years of experience in custom machine design, production tooling, or automated assembly equipment
- Experience with electromechanical systems: motors, actuators, linear rails, bearings, pneumatics, sensors, and precision locating features
- Hands-on experience with machine controls: PLC or industrial motion controllers, servo/stepper systems, I/O, safety circuits, and HMI
- Familiarity with precision assembly processes — fiber optics, cable/harness build, potting/curing, or similarly tight-tolerance joining and inspection
- Ability to perform structures and mechanism hand calculations; design for manufacturability and assembly
- Familiarity with drafting standards and GD&T
- Solid understanding of common manufacturing processes (mills, lathes, CNC, sheet metal, welding) and hands-on build experience
- Experience with Siemens NX and Teamcenter, or equivalent CAD/PDM systems
- Experience with manufacturing process development, PFMEA, and error-proofing
Responsibilities
- Stand up internal high-rate optical fiber harness termination for Starlink, taking the process from development equipment to production-capable machinery
- Design and develop tooling, fixtures, mechanisms, and automation equipment to terminate, assemble, and test flight hardware at rate
- Own the electromechanical stack on the equipment you design: structure, motion, sensors, actuators, and machine controls, from concept through commissioning
- Own projects through their full lifecycle — concept, fabrication, controls bring-up, and production introduction
- Partner with flight harness responsible engineers, quality, and production to develop process and equipment in parallel with the product
- Solve complex problems around precision alignment, process repeatability, cycle time, and first-pass yield
- Assemble, wire, program, debug, and commission the equipment you design on the production floor
Benefits
- Comprehensive medical, vision, and dental coverage
- Access to a 401(k) retirement plan
- Short and long-term disability insurance
- Life insurance
- Paid parental leave
- Various other discounts and perks
- 3 weeks of paid vacation
- 10 or more paid holidays per year
- Paid sick time in compliance with state and federal law (for Washington State employees)
- Company shuttles offered to employees for roundtrip travel from select Seattle locations to the SpaceX Redmond office Monday to Friday
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Entry Level
