Propulsion Engineer, Structural Analyst (Merlin)

$110,000 - $130,000/Yr

SpaceX - Hawthorne, CA

Full-time - Entry Level

Hawthorne, CA

Transportation Equipment Manufacturing

About the position

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. The Propulsion Engineer, Structural Analyst (Merlin) role will focus primarily on the structural analysis of engine parts to inform design decisions and ensure reliability, performance, and reuse requirements are met. Merlin Propulsion Engineers are responsible for ensuring the flightworthiness of engine hardware and software throughout the life cycle—from initial build, through acceptance testing, and into flight (and re-flight) operations. Additionally, you will be responsible for driving reliability-improving and rate-enabling initiatives to maintain the long-term success of Falcon as the most-flown, most-reliable launch vehicle in existence.

Responsibilities

• Perform thermal, thermo-mechanical, dynamic and durability (fatigue/fracture) analyses on Merlin engines to inform design decisions and ensure reliability, performance, and reuse requirements are met.
• Take an extremely practical, hands-on approach to model validation/verification, ensuring that model predictions are tied firmly to reality and test data, and make improvements to the engine design.
• Support ongoing design, manufacturing and reliability improvements to the engine, and ensure the changes are properly qualified.
• Support the resolution of issues encountered with during manufacturing, testing, flight operations or engine refurbishment in a timely fashion.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in an engineering discipline
• 1+ years of experience related to structural analysis
• 1+ years of experience with Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and commercial tools such as ANSYS
• 1+ years of experience related to combustion devices or rocket engine development

Nice-to-haves

• Master's degree in an engineering discipline
• Strong fundamentals in structural mechanics, thermo-mechanical, random vibration, fatigue and fracture
• Strong fluid flow and heat transfer fundamentals. Experience with CFD or fluent is not required, but value-added
• Hands-on experience with rocket engines, automotive engine design, dynamic or complex static fluid systems, etc.
• Professional experience using Siemens NX (Unigraphics) and GD&T
• Experience with manufacturing processes such as CNC mill/lathe, welding, castings, additive, etc. Proficient with the fundamentals of Design for Manufacturing/Assembly (DFMA)
• Project experience or full professional engineering lifecycle experience (design trade, CAD design, prototyping, manufacturing, testing, qualification, production, reuse) is desired
• Experience making risk evaluations and/or supporting root cause investigations.

Benefits

• Life insurance
• Parental leave
• Paid holidays
• Sick time
• 401(k)
• Retirement plan
• Stock options