Job brief: Sr. Mechanical Engineer, Flight Termination System (Starship)

What JoRoute checked · Checked by JoRoute

• Listed on SpaceX's own job board. JoRoute does not take listings from job ads or recruiters.
• First seen by JoRoute 2026-11-04 (2 days ago); last confirmed on the board 2026-11-06.
• The apply link opens boards.greenhouse.io, the address SpaceX's board gives for this job.
• No other listing with this title and place on this board in the last 90 days.
• No layoff notices (WARN) under this name in the state files JoRoute reads.

What the listing says · Employer's own words, not checked

• Pay: $130,000 to $180,000 a year
• Job type: Not stated
• Where: Hawthorne, CA
• Posted: 2026-06-23 · over 60 days ago

What the job asks · Employer's own words, not checked

Level: Senior. The title says "Sr".

Must have

• Bachelor's degree in an engineering discipline
• 5+ years of experience in mechanical design and/or hands-on manufacturing
• 5+ years of experience designing and analyzing mechanical systems via professional work experience, project/research-based student experience, or a combination of both
• Master's degree or 5+ years of professional experience in mechanical or aerospace engineering
• Extended hours and weekend work may be required to support critical project and mission milestones
• Must be willing to handle and test high explosive devices

Conditions

• Must be willing to travel (< 25%)
• You may also accrue 3 weeks of paid vacation and will be eligible for 10 or more paid holidays per year.
• 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/…

Main duties

• Develop state-of-the-art, manufacturable explosive devices and robust hardware integration designs (system controllers, electronic safe and arm devices, dest…
• Validate reliability of hardware and designs with rigorous testing in shock, vibration, thermal cycling, climatic and live fire testing. Design experiments t…
• Partner with manufacturing, production, testing, and supply chain to achieve SpaceX’s highest-yet component build rate, striving for high factory yield and a…
• Generate and maintain detailed drawings, component specifications, analysis and risk assessments
• Spearhead root cause investigations that arise in development, production, test, integration and launch, implement corrective actions to prevent repeat failures

Lines copied from the posting, not rewritten. "Preferred" or "nice to have" items are not listed as must-haves.

How it compares · Compared by JoRoute from listings

• Typical listed pay for mechanic and technician jobs in California: $74k a year (329 listings, 40 employers). This listing is 110% higher.
• Across SpaceX's 2,895 open listings, 60% of those with a posting date were first posted more than 60 days ago. How SpaceX hires

What nobody outside the employer knows · Not known

• Whether the role is already filled or on hold: employers often leave listings up.
• How many people applied, and who reads the applications.
• Where in the published range an offer would land.

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