Welding Engineer

Job Highlights

Company Profile

SpaceX designs and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft to transform space travel. Its ultimate goal is to enable human life on Mars and make life multiplanetary.

Job Profile

The company is seeking a Welding Engineer who will support the development of SpaceX’s Starship launch vehicles alongside a strong design-and-build engineering group.

Help develop, qualify, and optimize welding designs and processes.

Interface daily with design-and-build engineers to make welding improvements and enforce standardized practices and procedures on multiple welded assemblies.

Education Level

• Bachelor’s Degree in an engineering discipline
• Master’s Degree in welding engineering or a related technical program

Work Experience

• 1+ years of experience with hands-on fabrication, manufacturing, or testing experience with welded assemblies
• Experience with brazing, joining, and metallographic interpretation
• Experience with root cause analysis and corrective actions, including, but not limited to, optical and SEM fractography/metallography, hardness, chemical analysis, and mechanical testing
• Hands-on welding experience in stainless steel, nickel-based, titanium, copper, and aluminum alloys
• Robot programming experience for automated welding solutions
• Tooling design experience for welded assemblies to reduce part distortion and improve part consistency

Duties/Responsibilities

• Develop and implement improved process control where possible, using test and NDE results as a feedback loop
• Develop, optimize, and qualify weld processes and parameters for multiple welding processes, including but not limited to electron beam welding, laser beam welding, gas tungsten arc welding, orbital tube welding, resistance welding, gas metal arc welding, friction stir welding, and plasma arc welding
• Scope out new welding technologies that may be employed to improve rate/quality/efficiency
• Set up automated welding solutions to drive process consistency
• Set up welding qualification test campaigns and interpret mechanical testing and NDE results
• Support design, manufacturing, and materials engineering with root cause analysis
• Support production operations on full-scale welded assemblies, providing direction to manufacturing engineers and welders on correct techniques in a fast-paced manufacturing environment
• Work closely with design, tooling, automation, and development engineers to improve welded designs for manufacturing
• Work closely with NDE personnel to interpret weld quality on development and flight hardware, in addition to developing and implementing innovative state-of-the-art NDE techniques

Skills/Knowledge/Abilities

• Fundamental understanding of welding processes, including, but not limited to, electron beam, laser beam, plasma arc, resistance, friction-stir, gas tungsten arc, and gas metal arc
• Self-motivated engineer with keen attention to detail
• Understanding of weld strength testing methodologies, standards, and data acquisition systems used to make informed welding decisions (ASTM E8, E399, E740, ISO 15653, AWS D17.X, AWS C7.X, thermos-couples, strain gages, etc.)

Work Environment

• Ability to perform job duties that require standing, kneeling, crouching, twisting the upper body, working in cramped positions in small openings, and climbing hand over hand
• Must be willing to work long hours and weekends as needed to support and maintain build schedules
• Position will be based in Starbase, Texas (Brownsville/South Padre Island area) and will require relocation if not already local.
• Strong ability to multitask and communicate status and results with a broad spectrum of internal and external departments

Physical Demands

• Exposed to welding fumes, noise, and heat during inspections
• May travel or work extended hours to support project timelines
• Splits time between office-based design work and on-site supervision
• Wears appropriate PPE when in production or field environments
• Works in manufacturing plants, construction sites, or research labs

Employer’s Statement

SpaceX is an Equal Opportunity Employer.