Propulsion Engineer (Dragon)

SpaceX•Hawthorne, CA

1d•$100,000 - $160,000

About The Position

SpaceX is hiring a Propulsion Engineer to own piece parts and assembled propulsion and/or environmental and thermal subsystems throughout manufacturing. The role focuses on delivering hardware to meet Dragon rate and USDV timelines while maintaining safety and part quality. The engineer will develop and qualify production processes, resolve manufacturing discrepancies with design engineering, production, and quality teams, support assembly and testing activities, and improve production capacity and efficiency. The position involves working directly with hardware on the production floor for extended periods. It may require extended work hours and weekend work. Compensation is listed at $100,000–$130,000 for Level 1 and $115,000–$160,000 for Level 2; actual level and base salary depend on job-related knowledge and skills, education, and experience. The total rewards package may also include long-term incentives or discretionary bonuses, an employee stock purchase plan, medical, vision, and dental coverage, a 401(k), disability and life insurance, paid parental leave, discounts and perks, three weeks of accrued paid vacation, at least 10 paid holidays per year, and paid sick leave under company policy. Applicants must meet the stated U.S. export-control eligibility requirements or be eligible to obtain required authorizations. SpaceX is an equal opportunity employer.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in an engineering discipline or physics.
At least 1 year of hands-on experience driving the design, building, testing, manufacturing, or development of mechanical components or systems.
Position may require extended work hours and weekend work.
Position requires working directly with hardware on the floor for extended periods.
Must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. lawful permanent resident, qualifying refugee or asylee, or eligible to obtain required U.S. Department of State authorizations.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree in aerospace, mechanical, systems, or manufacturing engineering.
Experience with design for manufacturability and assembly.
Experience with welding, machining, and coating processes.
Knowledge of chemistry, engineering, fluid dynamics, and mechanics of materials.
Experience conducting pressure and leak testing using instrumentation such as helium mass spectrometers, flow meters, pressure transducers, and thermocouples.
Experience with capacity modeling, process mapping, and fault analysis.
Experience performing Pareto analysis and root cause and corrective action.
Experience performing PFMEAs.
Familiarity with CAD and geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T).

Responsibilities

Own piece parts and assembled propulsion and/or environmental and thermal subsystems throughout manufacturing, focusing on delivery timelines while maintaining safety and part quality.
Develop and qualify new processes to take products from design to production.
Resolve manufacturing discrepancies for owned parts and processes in collaboration with design engineering, production, and quality teams.
Support day-to-day production of assemblies, high-pressure testing, and hardware integration.
Identify, plan, and execute capital equipment, machine, and layout upgrades to meet volume production demand.
Find and eliminate process waste, streamline production processes, and enable continuous improvement.

Benefits

Potential long-term incentives in the form of company stock or long-term cash awards.
Potential discretionary bonuses.
Employee Stock Purchase Plan with the ability to purchase additional stock at a discount.
Medical coverage.
Vision coverage.
Dental coverage.
401(k) retirement plan.
Short- and long-term disability insurance.
Life insurance.
Paid parental leave.
Various discounts and perks.
May accrue three weeks of paid vacation.
Eligible for 10 or more paid holidays per year.
Paid sick leave under company policy.