Sr. Fluids Engineer, Production (Starship)

SpaceX • Brownsville, TX

1d

About The Position

The Starbase production fluids team builds, maintains, and operates the fluid systems used by the Starship factory. These include high-pressure production test equipment for validating vehicles and components, vehicle press systems, and cleaning and contamination-control equipment. Engineers own hardware from defining the problem through design, build, commissioning, and handoff to the technicians and operators who use it.

The role is suited to hands-on engineers who can reduce complex production problems to first principles, design straightforward systems that meet requirements, and carry projects through handoff and documentation. The engineer works directly with the build shop, partner teams, and production customers on an accelerated schedule.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, manufacturing engineering, or another technical discipline.
• At least 5 years of fluid systems design, analysis, and build experience.

Nice To Haves

• Demonstrated ownership of a hardware project with little supervision, including clear communication with technicians, operators, and other engineers.
• Experience sizing piping, valves, regulators, and relief devices using basic compressible- and incompressible-flow calculations.
• Experience creating 3D CAD models, manufacturing drawings, fluid schematics, and failure mode analyses.
• Experience deploying equipment into a factory, plant, or test environment, including operating procedures, maintenance, and uptime.
• Experience with high-pressure gas, cleanliness or contamination control, PLCs or industrial controls, basic electrical schematics, circuits and testing, pressure-vessel or structural hand calculations, FEA, or industrial water, wastewater, or process plants.
• Experience using and creating AI tools to solve engineering problems.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and commission fluid systems for Starship production, including test systems, manufacturing systems, and cleaning equipment.
• Size systems and select components using hand calculations, then validate designs through testing.
• Own systems from concept through design reviews, failure mode analysis and ConOps, 3-D modeling, build instructions, testing and maintenance plans, and handoff to production.
• Define system operation and control, partnering with the automation team to deploy monitoring and controls.
• Support critical vehicle test operations, provide troubleshooting and technical support, and improve equipment reliability and safety.
• Work with partner teams, including the build shop, to develop efficient and scalable manufacturing processes for the systems.
• Develop and maintain detailed timelines to capture and communicate project progress.
• Own the strategic outlook for systems, including critical prioritization.

What This Job Offers

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