New Graduate Engineer, Starship Components

About the Role

The Starship Components team develops advanced spacecraft and launch vehicle components. Engineers on this team are hardware experts for valves, regulators, electromechanical actuators, pumps, and explosives. These components are critical for the Starship/Super Heavy vehicle, enabling functions such as propellant flow, ullage gas thrusters, and flap/fin actuators. Engineers will design, machine, build, and test components for extreme environments (temperatures from 80 to 800 K, pressures beyond 800 barA, and >100 flights).

Key Responsibilities

• Manufacturing:
• Partner with production and design to accelerate Starship delivery rates.
• Improve designs for assembly/testing.
• Implement linear production flow and design tooling.
• Develop welds and maintain work instructions.
• Train others and implement targeted automation.
• Design:
• Assemble design criteria and select architectures.
• Size components for proper force margin and perform structural analysis.
• Generate detailed part drawings and perform qualification testing.
• Present design reviews and monitor hardware performance in vehicle operations.
• Investigate root causes of in-flight anomalies and production delays.
• Implement fixes to prevent repeat failures.
• Testing:
• Design, build, and validate automated test systems for quick and repeatable hardware proof.
• Establish infrastructure to identify failures on the ground.
• Operate high-energy equipment with safety discipline.
• Prove out prototypes in R&D and define hardware limits in qualification tests (vibration, thermal, life, climatic).
• Write per-unit acceptance test plans under flight-like conditions (cryogenic temperatures, high voltage, high pressure).
• Machining:
• Define manufacturing strategies for individual parts (casting, forging, machining).
• Implement DFM feedback and perform CNC programming on lathes/mills.
• Select cutting tools and prove out the machining process.
• Generate inspection plans and enable lights-out machining.

Requirements & Tech Stack

• Bachelor’s degree in an engineering discipline or physics.
• 1+ years of mechanical and/or fluids engineering experience (via project teams, research, internships, and/or professional experience).
• Graduating in Fall/Winter of 2026 or Spring/Summer of 2027.
• Ability to work extended hours and weekends as necessary.

Qualifications

• Hands-on experience from industry or collegiate vehicle/robotics competitions in fluid systems, high-voltage systems, electronics, or instrumentation.
• Strong foundation in solid mechanics, fluid dynamics, electrical circuits, manufacturing processes, dynamics and controls, heat transfer, and thermodynamics.
• Ability to collect, process, and review complex engineering datasets to extract trends or failure modes.
• Understanding of electromechanical devices, gear trains, actuators, motors, valves, pumps, regulators, filters, and explosives.
• Successful academic record at a rigorous university: minimum GPA of 3.5/4.0, standardized test scores in the minimum 95th percentile, or merit-based scholarship recipient.
• U.S. citizen or national, U.S. lawful, permanent resident, refugee, or asylee, or eligible to obtain required U.S. Department of State authorizations.