Mechanical Engineer, Starship Tooling

SpaceX was founded under the belief that a future where humanity is out exploring the stars is fundamentally more exciting than one where we are not. Today SpaceX is actively developing the technologies to make this possible, with the ultimate goal of enabling human life on Mars.

MECHANICAL ENGINEER, STARSHIP TOOLING

As a member of the Starship Tooling team at Cape Canaveral, you will work with a group of engineers across multiple disciplines to design, build, and activate the launch pad hardware, recovery systems, and production tooling that launch and catch the most powerful rocket in the world.

This team sits at the intersection of two disciplines. The first is structural design: large welded steel structures, heavy plates, load paths, and bolted and welded connections that react hundreds of thousands of pounds. The second is machine design: hold-downs, sliders, and actuated mechanisms with precise pin fits, bearings, and kinematics that must work the first time and every time. The hardware is big, the loads are high, and the schedule is short. You will own your hardware end to end, from the first hand calculation and NX model through fabrication planning with our internal welding and toolmaking teams, build, and activation testing.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Design, analyze, build, and activate mechanical hardware for Starship launch pads, recovery systems, and production tooling, spanning large welded steel structures and precision mechanisms such as hold-downs, sliders, and actuated systems • Demonstrate complete end-to-end project ownership: define requirements, develop the concept, size it with hand calculations and analysis, release detailed models and prints, plan fabrication, lead the build, execute activation testing, and hand over to launch operations • Perform engineering hand calculations and finite element analysis to size structures and mechanisms, including statics and load paths, weld and bolted joint sizing, fatigue, kinematics, pin and bearing fits, and tolerance stacks • Design mass-efficient welded steel structures and define clear load paths for hardware that reacts very high static and dynamic loads • Design, prototype, and test mechanisms with precise fits and kinematics; specify GD&T that controls the features that matter • Create detailed models and engineering prints in NX and manage large assembly models • Create manufacturing planning for scope performed by internal welding, machining, and toolmaking teams, and manage outside fabricators and suppliers where needed • Support hardware activation with the controls engineering team and perform development and acceptance testing with production and launch operations teams • Lead in-field troubleshooting: safe the system when hardware behaves unexpectedly, then lead root-cause analysis and corrective action • Work closely with launch operations teams and their leadership to ensure the products we deliver meet form, function, and aesthetic expectations • Make development decisions based on cost and schedule considerations and present cost and schedule trade proposals to leadership • Work hands-on alongside technicians, welders, and machinists when needed to get hardware built, installed, and activated on time