Utility Operator Specialist 4/5
About the job
- Ideally, experience working with industrial processes that utilize engines, motors, fluid piping, electrical equipment, and instrumented controls.
- An associate degree in mechanical or electrical engineering technology and at least four years of experience working with automated processes in control room operations, plant operations, mechanic or millwright support, or instrumentation or electrical operations; alternatively, a high school diploma or equivalency certificate and at least six years of such experience.
- Willingness and ability to work outside with hand tools, stand, walk, climb, and work with objects overhead.
- Ability to climb ladders to elevated platforms and operate man-lifts at elevations exceeding 100 feet.
- Willingness to work all shifts, overtime, and weekends as needed.
- Eligible for the required U.S. Government export authorizations under ITAR, or meeting an accepted status such as U.S. citizenship or nationality, U.S. lawful permanent residence, refugee status, or asylee status.
- Identify equipment and process deviations and perform corrective actions.
- Troubleshoot, maintain, and calibrate process equipment, including centrifugal and reciprocating compressors, gas analyzers, control systems, instrument electrical systems, and process control valves.
- Work with engineers, technicians, and fabricators to implement fluid and mechanical designs in the field.
- Work with engineers and technicians to create operating procedures.
- Coordinate across multiple disciplines to ensure required resources are available to complete builds.
- Use system knowledge and documentation such as schematics and parts lists to create and maintain an efficient hardware inventory system, including procurement of critical spares.
- Learn and run standard operating procedures on machinery.
- A Class B or higher Water Operator and/or Wastewater Operator license through the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality or equivalent.
- Basic understanding of process parameters and engineering units for temperature, pressure, flow, and power.
- Ability to read and understand piping and instrumentation diagrams and schematic wiring diagrams.
- Familiarity with mechanical equipment and systems requiring malfunction isolation, industrial machinery disassembly, and repair or replacement of bearings, gears, and structural components.
- Familiarity with lockout/tagout, job hazard analysis, and hot work permitting.
- Familiarity with 120V, 480V, and 4160V electrical switchgear and components.
About the company
SpaceX designs, builds, and launches rockets and spacecraft for government and commercial customers, using reusable first stages to cut costs. Its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy recover their boosters to enable rapid reuse, while Dragon transports cargo and crew to the International Space Station. Starlink operates a satellite internet constellation to provide global broadband coverage. It earns revenue from launches and merchandise, with the broader goal of making space travel cheaper and, over time, enabling human life on other planets and expanding global internet access.
Company Size
10,001+
Company Stage
IPO
Headquarters
Starbase, Texas
Founded
2002
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Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- Flight 14 deployed 26 Starlink V3 satellites on September 28, 2026, adding 26 Tbps capacity.
- FAA licensed Flight 14 on September 26, 2026, clearing SpaceX's next orbital campaign.
- SpaceX's self-funding and Starlink cash flow bankroll Starship development and orbital data centers.
What critics are saying
- Starship still lacks repeatable reusability; engine shutdowns on Flight 14 exposed reliability gaps.
- NASA OIG said Starship HLS misses June 2027 readiness, delaying Artemis III.
- If Starship refueling stalls, SpaceX's lunar ambitions and orbital economics collapse.
What makes SpaceX unique
- Starship Flight 14 reached orbit on September 28, 2026, proving orbital capability.
- SpaceX controls rockets, satellites, and launch pads, compressing iteration faster than rivals.
- NASA still depends on SpaceX Starship HLS for Artemis III and Artemis IV.
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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
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↑ 0%Google launched its first orbital compute satellite today aboard a SpaceX rocket from California, testing whether its Tensor Processing Unit can function in space. The satellite, built by Planet Labs, will run 15-minute computing bursts to avoid straining power and thermal systems. The test is part of Project Suncatcher, Google's plan to develop large-scale orbital compute clusters. The company envisions a network of 81 satellites processing in parallel, though scaling depends on dramatically cheaper rocket launches. Google released analysis suggesting SpaceX's Starship must launch approximately 1,800 times over the next decade—flying 370,000 tonnes of payload—to achieve the $200 per kilogram launch costs needed by 2035. That requires 180 yearly launches at 200 metric tonnes each, far exceeding Starship's current five annual flights. Radiation testing showed Google's chips can handle inference workloads for five-year satellite lifespans, though error rates remain problematic for large-scale training operations.
SpaceX's Starlink is becoming a more credible threat to terrestrial broadband providers like Comcast and Charter Communications, particularly in rural and lower-density markets, according to MoffettNathanson analyst Craig Moffett. SpaceX recently deployed 26 higher-capacity V3 satellites via its first Starship orbital flight, marking a significant milestone for the service. Moffett told CNBC that Starlink poses a greater competitive challenge to broadband providers than to wireless carriers like AT&T and Verizon. However, he expects the transition to take time, with most of the constellation consisting of V3 satellites only after 2030. Despite improvements, Starlink is not expected to match speeds offered by terrestrial fibre or cable broadband. The technology remains best suited to rural markets whilst also serving some customers in denser areas.
Tesla and SpaceX shares rose Wednesday after ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood said Elon Musk was "working all angles" with US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping regarding a potential merger between the companies. Tesla closed 0.6% higher at $354.81, whilst SpaceX gained 1.1% to $150.86. Wood identified China as a major hurdle to any deal, given SpaceX's national security role and Tesla's substantial Shanghai operations. US government sales accounted for 20.9% of SpaceX's 2025 revenue, whilst China represents about a fifth of Tesla's sales. Musk denied reports of a possible separation of Tesla's China business. ARK continued buying both stocks, purchasing 48,352 Tesla shares and 9,112 SpaceX shares worth approximately $1.3 million on Tuesday.
SpaceX launches Starship Flight 14 on first orbital test mission. 2 hours ago Starship Flight 14 lifted off from Starbase in Texas, reaching orbital velocity for the first time in the programme's flight-test history. SpaceX has launched its Starship vehicle into orbit for the first time, marking a major milestone in the development of the company's fully reusable launch system. Starship Flight 14 lifted off from SpaceX's Starbase facility in South Texas. The mission was the 14th full-scale Starship test flight and the first designed to send the spacecraft into Earth orbit. Previous flights had followed suborbital trajectories to support testing and development. The mission achieved its primary orbital objective despite an engine issue during the spacecraft's ascent. One of Starship's Raptor engines shut down earlier than planned, but flight controllers continued with the mission after assessing the vehicle's condition. Starship subsequently performed its orbital insertion burn using a single Raptor engine and reached low Earth orbit approximately 25 minutes after launch. The mission also marked the first operational deployment of Starlink V3 satellites from Starship. The spacecraft successfully released 26 satellites into orbit. SpaceX said each V3 satellite is designed to add approximately 1 Tbps of capacity to the Starlink network, giving the mission a potential total of 26 Tbps of additional capacity. The company said this represents roughly 10 times the capacity of a Falcon 9 launch carrying Starlink V2 Mini satellites. Three of the deployed satellites carried cameras designed to capture imagery of Starship's heat shield. SpaceX plans to use the data to assess the vehicle's thermal protection system and support the development of future missions involving the return of Starship to its launch site. The flight was originally planned as an approximately 10-hour mission involving around six orbits at an altitude of roughly 275 km, followed by a controlled splashdown in the Pacific Ocean west of Chile. However, the mission was shortened after the engine issue. Starship completed several hours of flight before re-entering the atmosphere and splashing down in the Pacific Ocean north of Hawaii. The Super Heavy booster also completed a controlled return following stage separation, splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico. Engine issues affected the booster during the flight, but the vehicle nevertheless completed key elements of the planned ascent and return sequence. Flight 14 represents an important step in SpaceX's effort to develop Starship as a fully and rapidly reusable transportation system. The vehicle is intended to support satellite deployment and eventually crewed missions beyond low Earth orbit, including NASA's Artemis lunar exploration programme. NASA has selected SpaceX to develop the Starship Human Landing System for Artemis III and Artemis IV. Under NASA's current plan, Starship will undergo additional testing, including an uncrewed lunar demonstration, before it can be used for crewed lunar missions. The successful orbital insertion and deployment of operational Starlink satellites mark a new phase in Starship's flight-test programme, while the engine anomaly and shortened mission provide additional data for SpaceX as it continues work toward routine launches and rapid reusability.
SpaceX expects to have nearly 450,000 additional Nvidia GPUs operational by October, according to Barron's. A cluster of 220,000 Nvidia GB300 Blackwell GPUs should be running within days, with another 220,000 coming by October. This adds to the 780,000 Blackwell and Hopper processors already operating in SpaceX's data centres. The deal is particularly significant for SpaceX, which recently went public. The company has struck compute-capacity rental agreements with Anthropic and Alphabet worth approximately $26 billion annually combined. Start-up Reflection AI signed a deal worth $150 million monthly. These revenue streams are meaningful for SpaceX, which generated $18.7 billion in sales in 2025 but incurred a $4.9 billion loss. The additional GPU capacity could enable more cloud rental deals, helping fund SpaceX's orbital AI infrastructure plans.