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.
THERMAL ENGINEER (STARSHIELD)
Starshield leverages SpaceX’s Starlink technology and launch capability to support national security efforts. While Starlink is designed for consumer and commercial use, Starshield is designed for government use, with an initial focus on earth observation, communications, and hosted payloads. As a Thermal Engineer, you are responsible for the thermal design, test, and validation of vehicles and hardware. You will make engineering decisions to improve the vehicles and increase the overall hardware performance to help achieve our goals.
RESPONSIBILITIES:
• Thermal design of spacecraft, launch vehicles, and hardware, from initial high-level analysis down to validation of performance with ground tests, flight, and orbital data
• Automate workflow to reduce engineering investment in the design cycle
• Pursue performance/robustness improvements
• Pursue operational simplicity and seek to reduce burden on other groups at SpaceX
• Produce quality documentation of your work to reduce miss-rate and improve efficiency
• Review peer work
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:
• Bachelor's degree in an engineering discipline
• 1+ years of experience using scientific programming languages such as MATLAB, Python (internship or project team experience can supplement for industry experience)
PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:
• Master’s degree in an engineering discipline
• Experience with Thermal Desktop and ANSYS Workbench
• Experience with 3D and reduced-order thermal modeling
• Ability to identify sizing cases and quickly evaluate the impact of design decisions
• Excellent oral and written communication skills
• Ability to deliver against an aggressive schedule
• Active Top Secret or Top Secret SCI clearance OR willingness to pursue one is preferred. Note that an active clearance may provide the opportunity for you to work on sensitive SpaceX missions. If so, you will be subject to pre-employment drug and random drug and alcohol testing
ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS:
• Must be available to work extended hours and weekends as needed to meet mission critical deadlines
• Must be able to travel - up to 10-25% work week travel may be required
• This position is based in Hawthorne, CA and requires being onsite - remote work not considered
COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS:
Pay Range: Level 1: $100,000.00 - $130,000.00 Level 2: $115,000.00 - $160,000.00
Your actual level and base salary will be determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on the following considerations: job-related knowledge and skills, education, and experience.
Base salary is just one part of your total rewards package at SpaceX. You may also be eligible fo