Full-Time
Mechanical Engineer
Structures, Starship Infrastructure
SpaceX
10,001+ employees
Designs, manufactures, and launches rockets
No salary listed
No H1B Sponsorship
Brownsville, TX, USA
In Person
On-site at Starbase, Texas; outdoor coastal site.
US Citizenship Required
Bachelor's
 Mechanical Engineering (1) |
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 Aerospace Engineering (1) |
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- Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, structural engineering, or aerospace engineering
- 1+ years of professional experience in structural design or analysis of steel structures, aero-structures, heavy industrial equipment, or large-scale mechanical systems
- Ability to work extended hours and weekends as needed to support site operations and construction activities
- Willingness to work in outdoor environments at a remote coastal location
- ITAR requirements: must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. lawful permanent resident, refugee, or asylee, or be eligible to obtain required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State
- Lead the structural design of Starship production infrastructure of varying scales from smaller tooling fixtures and jigs to assembly line support structures and entire factory buildings/bays
- Perform structural analysis and design of steel, concrete, composite, and similar materials under static, dynamic, vibration, and handling loads using hand calculations and finite element analysis
- Develop and review structural drawings, connection details, fabrication packages, and erection/assembly sequences for complex structures and tooling
- Partner with manufacturing, operations, facilities, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fluids, and construction teams to integrate structural systems with production equipment, cranes, material handling, and operational requirements
- Support fabrication and construction activities, including review of shop drawings, weld procedures, and resolution of field issues during installation and integration
- Drive design decisions that balance performance, cost, schedule, and constructability for high-volume production environments
- Manage scopes through the full project lifecycle — from concept and preliminary design through detailed engineering, procurement, fabrication, and turnover
- Interface with external engineering firms, consultants, fabricators, and construction contractors to ensure designs meet SpaceX standards and are executed to specification
- Perform project control functions including scheduling, budgeting, and risk management
- Resolve conflicts in the field in real time and implement rapid design changes when required
- Own end-to-end delivery of projects with extreme ownership, ensuring on-time and on-budget performance
- Proven ability to manage multiple projects, think critically, and drive successful outcomes
- Strong background in structural design of large systems/assemblies using carbon steel, stainless steel, aluminum, or other commonly used structural materials
- Experience designing or analyzing structures for various load cases including dynamic loads, vibration, heavy lifting, or material handling environments
- Proficiency with structural analysis/FEM software (e.g., ANSYS, ABAQUS, FEMAP, NASTRAN, ETABS or equivalent)
- Proficiency with 3D modeling tools Siemens NX and/or Revit
- Experience with structural detailing, fabrication drawings, and application of GD&T for structures and tooling
- Hands-on experience with fabrication, welding, heavy lift planning, or steel erection
- Demonstrated ability to own projects from concept through build and commissioning
- Experience working on industrial facilities, production lines, GSE, or manufacturing tooling structures
- Familiarity with concrete, foundations, anchorage, and how they integrate with mechanical and production systems/structures
- Ability to read and create detailed structural drawings, connection details, and fabrication packages
- Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to work across engineering, manufacturing, and construction teams
- Extreme ownership mentality and comfort operating in a fast-paced, ambiguous environment
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
- Reuters on August 5 said Flight 14 will test upper-stage tower recovery.
- Texas announced August 6 a $16.8 billion Terafab with 3,000 jobs.
- FCC authorization on August 14 cleared SpaceX's Wi-Fi 7 Starlink router for sale.
What critics are saying
- Reuters said Starship Flight 14 still waits on regulatory approval on August 5.
- The FAA has proposed penalties and delayed launch licensing reviews before.
- A Starship failure streak through 2027 cripples Mars and V3 launch economics.
What makes SpaceX unique
- SpaceX alone flies reusable Falcon rockets and tests tower catches for Starship.
- Starlink's direct-to-cell deals with Docomo extend connectivity beyond terrestrial carriers.
- Terafab's Texas chip plant gives SpaceX vertical control over launch and satellite hardware.
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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
6 month growth
↓ -1%1 year growth
↓ -2%2 year growth
↓ -2%SpaceX shares are trading around $140, below their $150 opening price when the company went public. The space exploration company reported a $541 million loss in its second quarter despite generating $7.8 billion in revenue, primarily from its Starlink satellite internet business. SpaceX's capital expenditures surged 550% year-over-year to $18.4 billion in the second quarter. The company is investing heavily in multiple projects, including its reusable Starship rocket and AI data centres. SpaceX plans to build 10 gigawatts of data centre capacity by the end of next year. With a market capitalisation of $1.8 trillion, a $5,000 investment would require nearly 20,000% gains to reach millionaire status, making this scenario mathematically implausible despite the company's growth potential.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced that artificial intelligence could account for 99% of the company's value within four or five years. In its Form S-1 filing, SpaceX estimated its AI total addressable market at $26.5 trillion of a $28.5 trillion total opportunity across all business segments. The company's AI revenue grew 247.5% year-over-year to $2.6 billion in the second quarter, representing 33% of total revenue. Overall revenue reached $7.8 billion, up 92% from the prior year. Analysts expect SpaceX to generate $44.58 billion in revenue this year and $95.49 billion next year, compared to $18.7 billion last year. Musk previously stated the company's revenue could reach $1 trillion by 2030.
SpaceX to build $17 billion AI fab facility in Texas. 15.08.2026. SpaceX plans to build a massive semiconductor fabrication facility in Texas. An initial investment will be more than $16.8 billion. The fab would be designed to support growing demand for AI chips across its satellite and space operations. Texas governor Greg Abbott announced the first phase of the Terafab project, which is expected to create 3,000 jobs and has been backed by a $30 million Texas Enterprise Fund grant. The project also qualifies for incentives through the state's Jobs, Energy, Technology, and Innovation programme. The planned 100-million-square-foot site in Grimes County, Texas, will combine logic, memory, and advanced packaging under one roof, enabling SpaceX to consolidate parts of the semiconductor production chain as it seeks to avoid constraints in global chip supply. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk stated that the facility will help the company produce AI chips at scale for use on Earth and in space. The project is expected to support future hardware requirements across Starlink, Starship and broader space infrastructure. Abbott stated Texas was selected because of its business climate, workforce, infrastructure and logistics advantages. Local officials said the development could provide a long-term economic boost for Grimes County and Southeast Texas, with roles spanning engineering, technical operations and plant management. The investment deepens SpaceX's presence in Texas, where it already operates its Starbase headquarters, a site in Cameron County and a Starlink manufacturing facility in Bastrop. SpaceX is pitching Terafab as part of a wider push to secure in-house chip capacity for next-generation aerospace, connectivity and AI workloads, as demand for customised compute grows across the company's satellite broadband and launch businesses. Discover more Dictionaries & Encyclopedias Language Resources Više vijesti iz kategorije.
Starlink V2 coming to Japan: 5G speeds to Docomo phones. Table of Contents Starlink and NTT Docomo are moving beyond text-only satellite messaging. In a post from the official Starlink account, SpaceX confirmed that when the next-generation V2 service launches in Japan with Docomo, it will deliver 5G-class speeds directly to unmodified mobile phones - enabling streaming, browsing, and voice calls from anywhere the sky is visible. It's a significant leap from the current V1 offering, which already connects more than 6.5 million Docomo customers with basic apps and messaging in remote areas. From text-only to true broadband. The V1 service - branded as "docomo Starlink Direct" in Japan - launched on April 27, 2026, according to Docomo's own materials, and hit 6.5 million cumulative users within roughly three months. But V1 is deliberately limited: text messaging and lightweight app data only, in outdoor areas where Docomo's 4G and 5G footprint doesn't reach. Voice calls are not supported today. V2 changes the equation. According to SpaceX's technical materials, the second-generation Starlink Mobile satellites are engineered to deliver "5G-level speeds from space," with peak user speeds in the neighborhood of 150 Mbps - comparable to a decent terrestrial 5G connection under ideal conditions. Each V2 satellite is expected to offer roughly 20 times the throughput of a V1 satellite and about 100 times the data density, according to previous SpaceX statements. That's the leap needed to move from "messages get through in the mountains" to "you can actually make a phone call and load a video." Key figures. | Metric | V1 (Today) | V2 (Planned) | | Capabilities | Text, some apps | Streaming, browsing, voice | | Peak speed | Messaging-class | ~150 Mbps (SpaceX) | | Docomo users connected | 6.5M+ | Expanded rollout | | Full deployment target | Live since April 2026 | From 2027; voice by FY2028 | | Phone compatibility | Standard LTE phones | Standard LTE phones | How Basenor got here. Docomo and Starlink Japan G.K. formalized their partnership well before the V1 launch, positioning direct-to-cell satellite service as a way to plug Japan's mountainous coverage gaps without asking users to buy new hardware. The V1 rollout in April 2026 made the service available across all Docomo and ahamo pricing plans free of charge - no application, no sign-up flow, no separate SIM. If your phone is outdoors and out of terrestrial range, it just works for text and light data. According to Docomo and SpaceX materials, the two companies have now agreed to extend that same "invisible upgrade" model to V2. Docomo customers won't need a new device, a new plan, or a new app - the satellites carry the heavier lifting. Full deployment of the second-generation constellation is expected to begin in 2027, with voice calling and high-speed data on Docomo targeted for fiscal 2028. The V2 architecture, per SpaceX, uses custom silicon and advanced phased-array antennas to hit those throughput numbers, and it's being designed to serve IoT devices as well as phones. Why this matters beyond Japan. Japan is a strategic showcase for direct-to-cell. Docomo is the country's largest carrier by subscriber base, and Japan's terrain - long coastlines, dense mountains, thousands of inhabited islands - is exactly the kind of environment where terrestrial 5G economics break down. If Starlink can demonstrate 150 Mbps peak speeds and reliable voice on ordinary handsets there, it becomes a much easier sell to carriers in Southeast Asia, Latin America, and rural North America facing similar coverage math. It also puts pressure on competing direct-to-cell efforts. AST SpaceMobile and Lynk Global are pursuing similar architectures, but Starlink already has roughly 650 direct-to-cell-capable satellites in low Earth orbit, according to previous SpaceX statements - a head start that becomes more meaningful once V2 satellites start filling in the constellation. What to watch next. A few concrete signals will tell Basenor whether the V2 timeline holds. First, the cadence of V2 satellite launches through 2027 - SpaceX will need to move a large number of second-generation birds on Falcon 9 and eventually Starship. Second, whether Docomo or SpaceX publishes real-world speed data from Japan once V2 service is live, rather than the theoretical 150 Mbps peak. Third, regulatory approval: direct-to-cell service depends on spectrum agreements with each partner carrier, and Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications will have to sign off on any expanded operating parameters. For now, the announcement is a roadmap statement rather than a service launch. But it's a specific roadmap with a named partner, a named speed target, and a fiscal-year commitment for voice - which is more concrete than most satellite-to-phone promises floating around the industry. Sources & reporting notes The links below identify the material source records used for this report. * @Starlink on X (2026-08-14T20:28:23.000Z) - Direct source Source links are preserved as published or accessed. See its editorial standards and corrections policy. BASENOR Newsroom The BASENOR Editorial Desk covers Tesla, SpaceX, and related technology, curating reporting from primary sources - official accounts, regulatory filings, and software release data. Every article passes source-record and fact-checking review before publication. About the newsroom. This report was curated by the BASENOR Editorial Desk from the sources listed above. Read its editorial standards or email [email protected] to report an error. Stay in the Loop Join 27,000+ Tesla owners who get its tips first - plus 10% OFF
SpaceX plans to attempt catching a returning Starship upper stage with its launch tower for the first time this month, CEO Elon Musk announced during the company's 4 August earnings call. The attempt is tentatively scheduled for late August, pending regulatory approval. The confidence follows Flight 13 on 24 July, which saw the Ship survive re-entry and splash down in the Indian Ocean. Flight 14 will also deploy Starlink V3 satellites into operational orbit for the first time. SpaceX has previously caught the Super Heavy booster, but never the Ship, which returns from space at much higher speeds. Tower catches enable faster turnaround by eliminating ocean recovery. SpaceX's connectivity segment grew revenue 66% year-over-year to $4.3 billion last quarter.