S

SpaceX

Builds rockets and runs Starlink satellite internet

Propulsion Engineer - Raptor Final Assembly & Tube Shop

Full-Time
$100k - $160k
Junior
Bachelor's
Hawthorne, CA, USA
In Person
Aerospace EngineeringPropulsion

About the job

Requirements
  • A bachelor's degree in mechanical, aerospace, or manufacturing engineering.
  • At least 1 year of mechanical design and manufacturing experience from industry or collegiate engineering projects such as Formula SAE, Baja SAE, or Design Build Fly.
  • Ability to work directly with hardware on the floor for extended periods.
  • The position may require extended hours and weekend work.
Responsibilities
  • Oversee the build and test processes for the Raptor final assembly and Tube Shop production area.
  • Develop, qualify, and refine assembly processes to enable high-volume engine production.
  • Collaborate with design, build, and reliability engineers, internal production teams, and external vendors to challenge requirements and drive efficient Raptor engine production on schedule.
  • Work with design engineering to develop design and manufacturing standards that reduce final assembly burden and implement a maintainable system of reasonable requirements.
  • Resolve build issues, disposition nonconforming conditions, perform root cause analysis, and implement corrective actions.
  • Own tooling design, fabrication, qualification, and improvement based on analysis and data.
  • Design tooling for new and existing products to support production rates.
  • Streamline production builds to minimize cost while improving quality and efficiency.
  • Implement standard practices, troubleshooting guides, and standard repair procedures, including reviewing and approving planning documents.
Desired Qualifications
  • Experience building and testing fluid and electrical systems and interpreting schematics.
  • Documentation and configuration management experience.
  • Experience writing test plans and procedures and providing go/no-go judgments with rationale.
  • Experience taking products through the development cycle to full-volume production.
  • Understanding of manufacturing processes including machining, welding, drilling, and automation.
  • Ability to work with minimal supervision.
  • Experience with Design for Manufacturability and Assembly.
  • Experience with NX (UG or equivalent) computer-aided design and geometric dimensioning and tolerancing for component and tooling design.
  • Experience with process development, facility and line layouts, value stream layout, process failure mode and effects analysis, and error proofing.

About the company

SpaceX builds and launches reusable rockets and spacecraft for NASA, the military, and companies, and it runs Starlink, a satellite internet service for homes and businesses. In 2020, its Dragon capsule became the first privately built spacecraft to carry astronauts to the International Space Station. Its Falcon 9 rocket lands its first stage so the booster can fly again, which cuts launch costs, while Starlink beams internet from low-orbit satellites to small dishes for a monthly fee. SpaceX also owns xAI, maker of the Grok chatbot and owner of the social network X, and is building Starship, a fully reusable rocket meant to carry people to the Moon and Mars. Elon Musk founded SpaceX in 2002, and it is based in Starbase, Texas.

Company Size

10,001+

Company Stage

IPO

Headquarters

Starbase, Texas

Founded

2002

Get referred to SpaceX

See people who can refer or advise you

Simplify Jobs

Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • Starlink demand keeps compounding: subscribers doubled to 12 million in the year to June 2026.
  • Room to grow: SpaceX listed 2,693 open roles in October 2026, over a third of them for Starlink.
  • Rivals rent its AI supercomputers: Claude maker Anthropic agreed in May 2026 to pay SpaceX $1.25 billion a month.

What critics are saying

  • Stock grants swing hard: shares closed between $108 and $211 in the four months after the June 2026 IPO.
  • Expect long weeks: 1,724 of SpaceX's 2,693 job posts in October 2026 mention extended hours and weekend work.
  • AI spending outruns sales: SpaceX put $15.8 billion into AI data centers in the June 2026 quarter, double its revenue.

What makes SpaceX unique

  • SpaceX is the world's busiest launcher by far: its 165 orbital launches in 2025 were nearly double China's total.
  • Starlink carries the profits: it earned $1.7 billion in the June 2026 quarter, while rockets and AI lost $1.8 billion.
  • Elon Musk has the final say: super-voting shares give him about 82% of shareholder votes after the June 2026 IPO.

Help us improve and share your feedback! Did you find this helpful?

Benefits

  • Benefits and Perks - Our employees' well-being is important to us and essential to our capacity to do extraordinary things. We offer a wide variety of programs to support the health, wellness, and financial security of our employees and their families.

Growth & Insights and Company News

6 month growth

0%

1 year growth

0%

2 year growth

1%
Yahoo Finance
Oct 30th, 2026
Musk: one Louisiana site could handle 10,000 Starship launches a year as SpaceX blames FAA

SpaceX told the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that outdated air traffic processes limit how often rockets can fly. Elon Musk said its planned Starbase Louisiana site alone could handle 10,000 Starship launches a year, matching the FAA's forecast for all US launches and reentries by 2035. SpaceX proposed dedicated launch corridors, faster approvals, and real-time flight tracking. It plans to spend around $100 billion on the site, with construction set to start in 2027 and the first launch targeted for 2029. Starship's own pace is the nearer limit. Musk now guides to weekly flights in the first half of 2027, after saying in August he expected one a day within a year.

Yahoo Finance
Oct 29th, 2026
T-Mobile CEO sees "no room" for SpaceX MVNO deal as SpaceX eyes 80,000 cell sites

T-Mobile chief executive Srini Gopalan said he sees "no room" for a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) deal with SpaceX, on the company's third-quarter earnings call on October 28, 2026. Verizon's chief executive has taken the same stance. The refusal comes as SpaceX agreed to buy nationwide 800 MHz spectrum and was reported to be in talks to access about 80,000 US cell sites. Without wholesale access, SpaceX must own spectrum and rent towers, a costlier path. The spectrum deal needs Federal Communications Commission approval and is expected to close in the first half of 2027. Gopalan said he would consider a resale deal for a complementary product. T-Mobile earned $3.22 a share on $23.58 billion of revenue, and raised its free cash flow guidance to $18.7 billion to $18.8 billion.

Yahoo Finance
Oct 28th, 2026
SpaceX could defy IPO slumps of up to 48% with $5.2B Starlink revenue and AI deals

SpaceX (NASDAQ: SPCX) faces a risk common to new listings: an LPL Financial study of nearly 1,500 initial public offerings (IPOs) over 30 years found a median drawdown of up to 48% in the first year of trading. The median one-year return was negative 4.7%. Still, one Motley Fool analyst argues SpaceX could defy the pattern in 2027. Starlink had 13.6 million consumer subscribers at the end of September, up 89% year over year. Connectivity revenue rose 69% to $5.2 billion in the third quarter, and operating income nearly doubled to $2.4 billion. Its AI infrastructure business is growing too. Anthropic agreed to spend up to $120.5 billion through 2029, and Alphabet's cloud deal pays $920 million a month. SpaceX and Tesla are also weighing a merger, though nothing is certain.

Yahoo Finance
Oct 28th, 2026
SpaceX's super intelligence unit hits $7.56B quarterly revenue, up 830%, and is the top reason to buy

SpaceX's super intelligence (SI) division, not its rockets or Starlink, is the best reason to buy the stock, argues Motley Fool writer Keithen Drury. The unit, which holds the company's AI data centre platform, reported third-quarter revenue of $7.56 billion, up about 830% from $813 million a year earlier. SI was formed from xAI, which SpaceX acquired a few months before going public, and includes the social media platform X. Revenue was about three times the $2.56 billion earned in the second quarter. SpaceX spent $16.4 billion in capital expenditure on the division during the quarter. SI posted an operating profit of $431 million. The result includes the first report since SpaceX acquired Cursor in August, which brought a one-off $1.2 billion stock-based compensation cost.

Yahoo Finance
Oct 28th, 2026
SpaceXAI offers to buy 418 Mississippi homes, but sellers must drop noise lawsuit claims

SpaceXAI, through its subsidiary MZX Tech, is offering to buy 418 homes in Southaven, Mississippi, near the gas-turbine power plant that feeds its data centres. Sellers must give up their claims in a pending noise class action against the company, The Guardian reports. A letter from Burch Realty Group says sellers will be unable to recover damages from the lawsuit. The offers are reportedly based on Zillow estimates, and at least 18 owners have agreed to sell. Residents sued in June 2026, estimating that more than 10,000 people live in the affected area. The company denies the allegations, and a court conference on class certification is scheduled. Renter Danielle Dillard was given 60 days to leave after her landlord took the buyout, with no moving costs offered. Mayor Darren Musselwhite called the programme "totally voluntary.