Flight Safety Engineer, Flight Termination System (Starship)
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.
FLIGHT SAFETY ENGINEER, FLIGHT TERMINATION SYSTEM (STARSHIP)
As a member of the Flight Termination System team, you will have the exciting opportunity to be responsible for the design and certification of the Starship Flight Termination System! You will demonstrate extreme ownership through deep understanding of the functionality, design, and requirements from system concept through post flight reporting. As an extreme owner, you will be responsible for interfacing with SpaceX engineering and regulatory partners to implement, tailor, and challenge space industry regulatory requirements to achieve a highly reliable flight safety system. Our development timelines are aggressive, and the Flight Termination System is one of the few safety critical systems on the vehicle. The hardware that makes up the FTS requires extremely high levels of rigor and you will solve very challenging problems at the intersection of safety critical hardware and high explosives.
COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS: Pay range: Level I: $95,000 - $115,000/per yearLevel II: $110,000.00 - $130,000.00/per year
Responsibilities
RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Act as responsible engineer for Starship Flight Termination System (FTS) development, hardware design, qualification, and per-launch deliverables for mission licensing
- Define detailed system design, including system interconnect schematics, consumable budgets, harness and channel capabilities, fault tolerance, reliability, hardware manifest, vehicle risk, and configuration change management
- Work collaboratively with customers and experts from other teams to perform system trades, define vehicle architecture, and scope new designs as they move from concept, through prototype, and into production
- Ensure that the as-built Flight Termination System meets design intent, regulatory requirements, and achieves high reliability
- Interface with internal operations teams, internal flight reliability teams, and external regulatory partners such as the FAA
- Be responsible for assessing and communicating to SpaceX internal teams and regulatory partners that FTS is ready for flight
- Generate and submit flight safety system certification deliverables to launch from multiple launch ranges
Job Requirements
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:
- Bachelor’s degree in electrical, mechanical, aerospace or computer engineering, or physics
- 1+ years of hardware development experience in electronic or mechanical systems (academic projects, internships, and traditional professional experience all qualify)
PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:
- Experience with system design and testing for hardware sub-systems such as RF, power, communications, human interface, and sensors
- Experience designing and certifying flight safety systems for launch vehicles
- Experience with system trades and first-hand knowledge of how requirements tie hardware to larger systems
- Self-starter with experience making hardware work within demanding time and resource constraints
- Experience with wire harness design and build, including associated sub-components
- Experience with NX or similar CAD design software
- Familiarity with electrical test equipment (multimeters, oscilloscopes, power supplies, etc.) and basic analysis techniques
- Experience writing engineering software for test automation, data review, and design analysis, preferably in MATLAB or Python
- Demonstrated project management skills and ability to collaborate with other engineering disciplines
ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS:
- Extended hours and weekend work may be required to support critical project and mission milestones
ITAR REQUIREMENTS:
- To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here.
