Supplier Development Engineer (Starlink)

$110,000 - $130,000/Yr

SpaceX - Hawthorne, CA

Full-time - Entry Level

Onsite - Hawthorne, CA

Transportation Equipment Manufacturing

About the position

The Supplier Development Engineer at SpaceX is a technical role focused on enhancing the supply chain for the Starlink project. This position requires expertise in manufacturing and quality tools to ensure suppliers meet the high standards of quality and efficiency necessary for rapidly evolving designs and ambitious production volumes. The engineer will act as a liaison between suppliers and internal teams, driving improvements and innovations to support SpaceX's mission to enable human life on Mars.

Responsibilities

• Act as the technical point of contact, solving emergent challenges at suppliers and mitigating risk to the manufacturing system by addressing high-impact manufacturing and quality challenges
• Conduct design for manufacturing (DFM) reviews to ensure manufacturability
• Provide leadership for New Product Introduction (NPI) at suppliers
• Identify, audit and onboard new suppliers; perform surveillance and diagnostic audits on incumbent suppliers
• Industrialize new materials and/or processes by collaborating with suppliers to implement the required capital improvements and developing their capability to scale-up these new technologies
• Collaborate with Design, Quality, and Manufacturing to determine the ideal performance specifications and supplier metrics
• Validate supplier corrective actions involving design and/or process changes to ensure they are robust, sustainable, and implemented for similar potential concerns across manufacturing lines and/or suppliers
• Lead containment activities, working with cross-functional counterparts on scope, path forward and ultimate resolution
• Demonstrate innovation, technical excellence, attention to detail, self-direction and courage
• Drive for results and customer satisfaction by collaborating with teams, leading projects and continuously driving improvement in the supply base

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in an engineering or a STEM discipline
• 1+ years of manufacturing, supply chain, or business project experience

Nice-to-haves

• Master's degree in engineering or business
• Experience with high volume manufacturing
• Ability to communicate and direct supplier activities at the management level
• Knowledge quality processes - production part approval process (PPAP), advanced product quality planning (APQP), first article inspection reports (FAIR), etc
• Experience with quality systems (ISO 9000/TS/AS9100/NADCAP)
• Knowledge of statistical techniques and methods, e.g., design of experiments, Six Sigma, Statistical Process Control (SPC), etc
• Knowledge of Lean concepts
• Experience with sharing information and influencing others across organizational lines, internally and externally
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, ability to make presentations to suppliers, team members and management
• Experience with MRP or ERP systems

Benefits

• Comprehensive medical, vision, and dental coverage
• 401(k) retirement plan
• Short & long-term disability insurance
• Life insurance
• Paid parental leave
• Employee Stock Purchase Plan
• 3 weeks of paid vacation
• 10 or more paid holidays per year
• 5 days of sick leave per year
• Potential discretionary bonuses
• Long-term incentives in the form of company stock or cash awards