Electric Propulsion Engineer, Avionics (Starshield)

SpaceX · Hawthorne, CA

  • Junior
  • Full-time
  • $105,000 – $140,000
  • Posted 2026-09-23
  • Confirmed live on 25 September 2026

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Job description

SpaceX was founded under the belief that a future where humanity is out exploring the stars is fundamentally more exciting than one where we are not. Today SpaceX is actively developing the technologies to make this possible, with the ultimate goal of enabling human life on Mars.

ELECTRIC PROPULSION ENGINEER, AVIONICS (STARSHIELD)

Starshield leverages SpaceX's Starlink technology and launch capability to support national security efforts. While Starlink is designed for consumer and commercial use, Starshield is designed for government use, with an initial focus on earth observation, communications, and hosted payloads.

SpaceX is hiring an Electric Propulsion Engineer (avionics focus) to join a collaborative engineering team working on design, analysis, build, and test of high-volume, flight-qualified satellite electric propulsion systems. In this role you will contribute end-to-end hardware ownership of propulsion power-processing and control electronics—from design through production support and qualification—for hardware that must meet flight reliability requirements.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Design, analyze, test, and provide operational support for high-volume production spacecraft electric propulsion avionics (power-processing and control electronics that drive thrusters, heaters, and propellant-feed actuators)

• Lead or contribute to electrical architecture, specification, component selection, circuit-board design, implementation, verification, board bring-up, and debugging (depth in several of these areas is expected over time; prior ownership of every step is not required)

• Design, develop, and test propulsion electronics, including characterization, requirements generation and verification, and flight qualification

• Partner with firmware/software, mechanical, thermal, manufacturing, and production-test teams

• Design, build, modify, operate, and troubleshoot electric propulsion electronics and associated test setups, including vacuum-chamber electrical interfaces, high-voltage supplies, data acquisition and control systems, harnessing, and instrumentation

• Analyze and review ground-test and flight data with numerical tools (e.g., Python, MATLAB) to confirm hardware is operating as expected and inform design decisions; develop scripts as needed

• Lead root-cause investigations and board or component redesigns to improve reliability and/or production rates

• Develop and execute qualification test plans for flight readiness (vibration, shock, thermal cycle, EMI/EMC, life cycle, fault injection)

• Evaluate design and qualification coverage for new vehicles and missions; close gaps with targeted analysis or test

• Make risk-informed trades across cost, lead time, reliability, and performance to meet program reliability targets for flight hardware

• Own critical spaceflight hardware end-to-end, with support from manufacturing, reliability, test, firmware, and operations teams

• Work as an integrated team, with daily interactions among technicians, engineers, and managers; identify and implement design and process improvements

• Communicate clearly under ambiguity, escalate technical and schedule risks early, and collaborate through disagreement

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor's degree in electrical, aerospace, physics, mechanical, or other engineering discipline preferred

• 1+ years of total experience in one or a combination of the following: professional or internship experience designing, testing, and analyzing power electronics, analog/mixed-signal, or spacecraft avionics; academic research with comparable design/build/test ownership of power supplies, plasma or electric-propulsion power processing, high-voltage, or control electronics; or closely related hardware experience (e.g., motor drives, converters, RF/power, or instrumentation for vacuum or plasma systems)

PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:

• Demonstrated delivery of hardware for aerospace, defense, space, or equivalent high-reliability or safety-critical use (lab, flight, or production; new design or iterative redesign)

• Experience with mixed-signal or power electronics bring-up, characterization, and debug

• Working knowledge of analog and power electronics, high-voltage design, circuit protection, EMI/EMC, and numerical analysis programming (e.g., Python, MATLAB); control loops, plasma or nonlinear electrical loads, schematic/layout review, vacuum operation, and C/C++ as applicable (depth in several of these areas is valued; mastery of all is not expected)

• Experience prioritizing concurrent design, build, and test work against flight and production milestones

• Clear documentation habits appropriate for flight hardware

• Track record of improving designs and processes for reliability, rate, or quality

• Active Top Secret or Top Secret/SCI clearance, or ability and willingness to obtain a Top Secret clearance, is desired but not required

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS:

• An active clearance may provide the oppor

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