Sr. Server Hardware Systems Engineer (Starlink)

SpaceX•Palo Alto, CA

3d•$200,000 - $280,000•Onsite

About The Position

SpaceX’s Starlink network relies on a global fleet of servers in data centers and points of presence. The Starlink Site Reliability Engineering team is hiring a Server Hardware Systems Engineer to own the fleet’s hardware health as it scales. The role covers the server hardware lifecycle from issue detection and repair through recovery, including building telemetry, alerting, and automation that enable a small team to operate a large fleet. The engineer coordinates with network operations, field technicians, hardware vendors, and data center partners to restore failed hardware to service quickly. The engineer will use fleet reliability data to inform server design, selection, and qualification for new sites across commercial-off-the-shelf and custom-designed platforms. The role is primarily based in offices rather than data center facilities, with opportunities and encouragement to spend time in the field with Starlink data center engineering teams.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in computer science, information systems/IT, or an engineering discipline and at least 5 years of professional experience in systems administration, site reliability engineering, or DevOps; alternatively, at least 7 years of such professional experience in lieu of a degree.
At least 3 years of professional experience troubleshooting and repairing enterprise server hardware in a production environment.
At least 3 years of professional experience administering Linux systems.
Willingness to work extended hours and weekends as needed to support hardware around the world.
Willingness to participate in an on-call rotation for hardware issues.
Willingness to travel domestically and internationally to data centers and other Starlink sites as needed, and to hold or obtain a valid passport.
Ability to work in data center environments for extended periods, including standing, kneeling, and working in loud, variable-temperature conditions.
Ability to lift, push, and pull 50 pounds.
Must meet U.S. government export-control eligibility requirements: be a U.S. citizen or national, lawful permanent resident, refugee, or asylee, or be eligible to obtain required U.S. Department of State authorizations.

Nice To Haves

At least 3 years of experience operating a large server fleet in production data center environments.
Hands-on experience diagnosing and replacing server components such as CPUs, DIMMs, NVMe SSDs, NICs, transceivers, power supplies, and system boards.
Experience with out-of-band management and baseboard management controllers such as HPE iLO, Dell iDRAC, or OpenBMC, using Redfish and IPMI.
Proficiency with Linux hardware diagnostics, including kernel and machine-check logs, EDAC, ipmitool, smartctl, nvme-cli, and ethtool.
Software development experience in Python or Go, including building production tools, services, and automation.
Experience building monitoring and alerting with Prometheus, Grafana, and Alertmanager, including writing custom exporters.
Experience operating Kubernetes clusters, including node lifecycle tasks such as cordoning, draining, and replacing nodes.
Experience with server networking, including NICs, optics, cabling, and link-level troubleshooting.
Experience managing vendor support cases, RMAs, and warranty processes, and coordinating remote hands across multiple data centers and time zones.
Familiarity with firmware management, TPM enrollment, secure boot, UEFI, and server provisioning at scale.
Experience designing operational workflows in ticketing systems and building dashboards for metrics such as MTTR and backlog size.
Experience with server hardware qualification, burn-in testing, or new product introduction.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to drive work to completion across teams, vendors, and time zones.
Ability to work in a fast-paced environment and manage multiple concurrent repairs across regions.
Experience writing scripts or software in at least one language, such as Python, Go, or Bash.

Responsibilities

Own the end-to-end repair lifecycle for server hardware and components, including triage, component-level failure isolation, safe removal from production, repair, validation, and return to service.
Manage vendor support cases and coordinate on-site work with data center remote-hands teams and field technicians, including parts delivery, site access, and return of failed parts for warranty replacement or failure analysis.
Build software and automation for hardware telemetry and alerting, diagnostics, production drain and return, alert silencing, post-repair validation, and component-level tracking from detection to recovery.
Define, measure, and report fleet hardware metrics, including response, repair, and recovery times, backlog trends, and component failure rates; publish regular stakeholder updates.
Write runbooks, methods of procedure, and training materials to help NOC and field technicians resolve common hardware incidents.
Validate new server hardware before production, including burn-in, firmware, and configuration checks.
Use fleet failure trends to drive server design, selection, qualification, and corrective action with vendors and hardware engineering.

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, vision, and dental coverage.
401(k) retirement plan.
Short- and long-term disability insurance.
Life insurance.
Paid parental leave.
Various other discounts and perks.
May accrue 3 weeks of paid vacation.
Eligible for 10 or more paid holidays per year.
Washington State employees accrue paid sick time in compliance with state and federal law.
Company shuttles for roundtrip travel from select Seattle locations to the SpaceX Redmond office, Monday to Friday.