Operations Engineer (Starshield)

SpaceX•Hawthorne, CA

About The Position

SpaceX’s Starshield program develops satellites for Earth observation, communications, and hosted payloads that support national security efforts. The Ground Infrastructure team seeks an engineer to support the strategic planning and operation of the ground assets serving the growing Starshield constellation. The role applies operations engineering and data science to guide decisions, align resources with work, and improve team output. The ideal candidate is self-starting, comfortable addressing a broad range of engineering problems, and effective in multidisciplinary teams. The engineer will standardize work processes across deployed ground infrastructure, support deployments and repairs, automate recurring reliability tasks, and collaborate with internal teams to develop technical approaches that meet their needs. The role also involves identifying and resolving infrastructure issues, building dashboards and tools to forecast demand and reliability, analyzing asset utilization, and working with software teams on alerting systems. The position may involve extended hours or weekends to meet major milestones, outdoor work in extreme weather, lifting up to 25 pounds, climbing ladders, walking supported sites, and travel to other sites of up to 10% of the work week. Candidates with an active clearance may have the opportunity to work on sensitive missions and, when briefed into a classified program, receive a pay differential. The role is subject to U.S. export-control eligibility requirements.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in an engineering discipline.
At least 1 year of experience using Excel, SQL, or Python/R for analysis or modeling dynamic systems.
Ability to work extended hours and/or weekends as needed to meet major milestones.
Ability to work in extreme outdoor environments, including heat, cold, wind, and rain.
Ability to lift 25 pounds unassisted, climb ladders, and walk supported sites.
Ability to travel to other sites; up to 10% of the work week may require travel.
Must meet U.S. government export-control eligibility requirements or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations.

Nice To Haves

Proficiency with statistics, data analysis, cost/benefit analysis, and visualization.
Experience with CAD software, Power BI, and discrete event modeling tools.
Experience with inventory, production, and capacity planning, including MRP/ERP systems.
Experience reading mechanical drawings, electrical one-lines, and OEM manuals, and writing procedures technicians can follow without clarification.
Experience overseeing contractors and vendors.
Practical use of SQL, Power BI, scripting, or AI to reduce clerical work in work orders, project management, and reports, with judgment about when technician skills are the right solution.
Ability to work collaboratively in an integrated team, including frequent interaction with technicians, engineers, and leadership.
Ability to work in fast-paced, high-stress environments.
Excellent written and communication skills.

Responsibilities

Standardize how work is requested, planned, executed, and closed across deployed ground infrastructure.
Own work orders, work instructions, and work documentation.
Provide engineering support for new infrastructure deployments and repairs to existing assets.
Automate repetitive reliability tasks to reduce operational burden as infrastructure expands.
Work with internal teams to understand their needs and design technical approaches aligned with their goals.
Build prototypes and proof-of-concept applications that accelerate team progress using Spok/Grok.
Identify electrical, mechanical, civil, and operations engineering issues; determine root causes; and develop immediate mitigations and longer-term improvements.
Develop and implement dashboards and tools to forecast part demand, consumption, and fleet reliability.
Analyze asset utilization data to inform upgrade or decommission decisions.
Work with software teams to define and implement alerting systems for team assets.

Benefits

Potential long-term incentives in the form of company stock or long-term cash awards.
Potential discretionary bonuses.
Ability to purchase additional stock at a discount through an Employee Stock Purchase Plan.
Comprehensive medical coverage.
Vision coverage.
Dental coverage.
401(k) retirement plan.
Short- and long-term disability insurance.
Life insurance.
Paid parental leave.
Various other discounts and perks.
Up to 3 weeks of paid vacation accrual.
10 or more paid holidays per year.
Paid sick leave pursuant to company policy.
For employees with an active clearance who are officially briefed into a classified program, a 10% differential up to an additional $20,000 annually.