About this role
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.
STRUCTURAL ENGINEER, STARSHIP TOWER
The Starship catch tower will redefine ground support systems for launch vehicles as we know them, with the ultimate goal of launching, catching, and relaunching orbital boosters in hours or days instead of weeks or months. The tower the largest steel structure ever built to support a launch vehicle. It must survive the acoustic, thermal, and blast environment of the most powerful rocket in the world at liftoff, absorb the loads of catching a returning booster, and then be ready to do it again within days.
As the Structural Engineer on the Tower team, you will own the structural integrity of these structures from concept through fabrication, erection, activation, and launch operations. You will perform and own the structural design and analysis of primary and secondary steel, connections, anchorage, and foundation interfaces; develop and issue drawings, calculations, and specifications; and lead consulting engineers, fabricators, and construction contractors through engineering, procurement, fabrication, construction, and commissioning. You will work hand in hand with the mechanical, mechanisms, fluids, and analysis engineers on the team to ensure the structure meets requirements for both the design and the manufacturing and integration processes. This is a field-facing role: you will be onsite at Cape Canaveral, in the structure, resolving design and construction conflicts in real time alongside welders, ironworkers, riggers, and technicians, and you will be expected to act as a technical advisor and, at times, de facto supervisor to those skilled labor partners.
RESPONSIBILITIES:
• Own the structural design and analysis of the tower and launch mount primary and secondary steel structures, including members, bolted and welded connections, anchorage, and foundation interfaces, across static, dynamic, thermal, and fatigue load cases spanning fabrication, lift and erection, vehicle stacking, launch, and booster catch
• Perform all calculations necessary for structural steel and reinforced concrete design, and develop and issue drawings, design documentation, specifications, and reports
• Develop load cases and structural design criteria in partnership with the analysis, mechanisms, fluids, and vehicle teams; translate vehicle and operational requirements into structural requirements and verify the design against them
• Lead the project team, consulting engineers, fabricators, and contractors throughout the entirety of the structural engineering, procurement, fabrication, construction, and commissioning process
• Write and manage fabrication and construction contracts with subcontractors through contract close-out; own bud