Electrical Engineer (Starship Avionics)

The Starship team supports the mission to revolutionize orbital flight and space travel–opening access for humankind to establish new frontiers in space and ultimately become a multi-planetary species. Our avionics component development team builds some of the most advanced electronics ever flown in space at a cost and rate previously considered unthinkable in the space industry. Become a part of this fast moving and world class hardware team designing sensors, power and network systems, propulsion interfaces, and data acquisition for Starship. On this team, you’ll work with super smart and motivated engineers and achieve truly audacious goals. If you’re ready for a challenge and would like to help make our civilization multi-planetary then you’ve come to the right place!

• →Rapidly develop high-reliability avionics components for Starship and Super Heavy
• →Drive system trades, requirements capture, component selection, analysis, schematic capture, prototyping, bring-up, debugging, documentation, manufacturing, and test
• →Develop analog and digital circuits from first principles to meet design requirements in extreme environments
• →Design acceptance and qualification testing campaigns and exercise designs to their limit
• →Support hardware through production, integration, and flight
• →Work with experts from other teams (EEE, EMI, radiation, production) and departments (propulsion, structures, GNC) to drive changes that make the system more efficient, manufacturable, and reliable
• →Challenge assumptions and build strong professional relationships

• Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering, or mechanical engineering
• 1+ years of experience designing, building, or testing circuit boards or other electronics (personal projects, research, internships, and extracurricular academic projects qualify)

• Passion for spaceflight and curiosity for electronics in high-reliability applications
• Excitement for making systems smarter, better, faster, cheaper, and more reliable
• Experience making products or systems work with minimal time and resources
• Experience developing fundamentally new hardware, not just incrementally updating legacy hardware
• Experience with analog circuit design, analog signal chains, sensor signal conditioning, or hardware filter design
• Experience with Ethernet (including single-pair), network switches, microcontrollers, FPGAs, memory chips, or general networking concepts
• Experience designing switching power converters, power magnetics, motor inverters, input filters, or EMI/EMC compliance
• Experience with digital signal processing, analog control loops, or control loop stability
• Experience with circuit board layout, especially for switching power converters or high-speed digital applications where signal integrity is critical
• Experience with high voltage systems, lithium-ion batteries, solid state load switches, or power distribution optimization
• Experience with circuit board design-for-manufacture and productization of electronics
• Experience with automating hardware development functions (e.g. scripting to control benchtop equipment or to accelerate analysis or simulation) and
• Ability to work autonomously in a fast-paced environment
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills

• Extended hours and weekend work may be required to support critical projects and mission milestones

• To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here.  

SpaceX is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with SpaceX is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.

Applicants wishing to view a copy of SpaceX’s Affirmative Action Plan for veterans and individuals with disabilities, or applicants requiring reasonable accommodation to the application/interview process should reach out to [email protected].