Aviation Certification Engineer (Starlink)

About the role

Starlink believes in providing fast, reliable internet to serve populations with little or no connectivity. We design, build, and launch the world's largest constellation of satellites, enabling us to operate a global internet network unbounded by traditional ground infrastructure limitations. In addition to direct-to-consumer service, Starlink is also developing high-speed internet solutions for commercial and private aircraft.

As an Aviation Certification Engineer, you will be responsible for driving projects with the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration). You will own the certification process, milestones, and documentation needed to authorize Starlink for flight and will work closely with design and manufacturing teams to ensure regulatory compliance throughout the hardware design cycle.

Responsibilities

• Produce certification deliverables on a tight timeline that comply with FAA regulations for supplemental type certification applications (project specific certification plans, test plans, analysis & substantiation reports, conformity inspection plans, operational documents, airplane flight manual supplements)
• Drive certification process improvements to reduce overhead and improve schedules for future certification applications
• Manage multiple concurrent certification efforts and provide regular updates on schedule and deliverables to senior management
• Subject matter expert on the FAA certification process with internal partners and devising/improving SpaceX internal tools and processes to enable meeting the aviation program priorities
• Work with hardware owners to ensure regulatory compliance early in the design cycle

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a STEM discipline
• 1+ years of experience in mechanical or electrical product design, testing, or manufacturing (internship or extracurricular experience is applicable)

Preferred Skills and Experience

• 2+ years of experience with FAA certification
• Experience with DO-160 environmental testing, aircraft ground testing, aircraft flight testing
• Previous ownership of an aerospace certification from application to FAA acceptance
• Demonstrate ability to produce documentation deliverables on a tight timeline
• Extremely strong proficiency with Microsoft Word as a tool to produce and manage large documents
• Experience generating schematics, diagrams, and data visualizations that clearly communicate design intent of systems, tests or analysis
• Hardware ownership for mechanical or electrical systems through entire lifecycle (design, qualification, manufacturing, and launch)
• Understand failure modes of complex mechanical and electrical systems
• Extremely strong verbal and written communication skills

Additional Requirements

• Ability to work extended hours and weekends as needed

Pay Range

Level 1: $100,000.00 - $135,000.00

Level 2: $115,000.00 - $165,000.00

Your actual level and base salary will be determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on the following considerations: job-related knowledge and skills, education, and experience.

Base salary is just one part of your total rewards package at SpaceX. You may also be eligible for long-term incentives, in the form of company stock or long-term cash awards, as well as potential discretionary bonuses and the ability to purchase additional stock at a discount through an Employee Stock Purchase Plan.

You will also receive access to comprehensive medical, vision, and dental coverage, access to a 401(k) retirement plan, short and long-term disability insurance, life insurance, paid parental leave, and various other discounts and perks. You may also accrue 3 weeks of paid vacation and will be eligible for 10 or more paid holidays per year.

Employees accrue paid sick leave pursuant to Company policy which satisfies or exceeds the accrual, carryover, and use requirements of the law.

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.