Principal Welding Engineer (Starship)

PRINCIPAL WELDING ENGINEER (STARSHIP)

This position will support the development of SpaceX’s Starship launch vehicles alongside a strong design-and-build engineering group. The welding engineer will help develop, qualify, and optimize welding designs and processes. The engineer will interface daily with design-and-build engineers to make welding improvements and enforce standardized practices and procedures on multiple welded assemblies.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• 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
• Support production operations on full-scale welded assemblies, providing direction to manufacturing engineers and welders on correct techniques in a fast-paced manufacturing environment
• Support design, manufacturing, and materials engineering with root cause analysis
• Work closely with design, tooling, automation, and development engineers to improve welded designs for manufacturing
• Set up welding qualification test campaigns and interpret mechanical testing and NDE results
• 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
• Develop and implement improved process control where possible using test and NDE results as a feedback loop
• Set up automated welding solutions in an effort to drive process consistency
• Scope out new welding technologies that may be employed to improve rate/quality/efficiency

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor’s degree in an engineering discipline
• 10+ years of experience with hands-on fabrication, manufacturing, or testing experience of welded assemblies

PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:

• Master’s degree in welding engineering or related technical program
• Hands-on welding experience in stainless steel, nickel-based, titanium, copper, and aluminum alloys
• Experience with brazing, joining, and metallographic interpretation
• 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
• Robot programming experience for automated welding solutions
• Tooling design experience for welded assemblies to reduce part distortion and improve part consistency
• 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.)
• Experience with root cause analysis and corrective actions including, but not limited to, optical and SEM fractography/metallography, hardness, chemical analysis, and mechanical testing
• Self-motivated engineer with keen attention to detail
• Strong ability to multi-task and communicate status and results with a broad spectrum of internal and external departments

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS:

• Position will be based in Starbase, Texas (Brownsville/South Padre Island area) and will require relocation if not already local
• Must be willing to work extended hours and weekends as needed to support and maintain build schedules
• Ability to perform job duties that require standing, kneeling, crouching, twisting upper body, working in cramped positions in small openings, and climbing hand over hand