Sr. IT Network Engineer (OT)

About the role

SpaceX is looking for a Senior Operational Technology (OT) Network Engineer with experience in routing, switching, and wireless in industrial network environments. This employee will be a member of the IT Network Engineering team, which is responsible for maintaining a stable, reliable, and diverse network. This network supports the design, manufacturing, and launching of rockets, spacecraft, satellites, and human spaceflight.

This position will design and support industrial and OT networks for production, test, site operations, and live data center build environments. The ideal candidate will be a great communicator, able to document work in a ticketing system, excel at multi-tasking, resolve issues to prevent failures, and enjoy a fast-paced high-tech environment.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement large-scale, highly available networks, balancing routing and redundancy for production, test, and site requirements.
• Design and validate resilient, scalable multi-site OT network topologies for critical facilities.
• Evaluate, procure, and deploy network hardware: switches, firewalls, multiplexing, and SD-WAN appliances.
• Develop and contribute to network automation tooling, including configuration analysis and scalable deployment.
• Plan and coordinate network outage windows with stakeholders for software updates, hardware refreshes, and maintenance.
• Troubleshoot and resolve network issues. Publish root-cause analysis and host retrospective reviews.
• Provide networking support during launch and test campaigns, including on-call or real-time support as the networking responsible engineer.
• Tune network monitoring for operational telemetry and issue detection before impact.
• Create and update network documentation: architecture overviews, design drawings, and operational procedures.
• Work with cross-functional teams on network designs, including failure modes and redundancy.
• Perform job walks with customers, vendors, and contractors to gather requirements and create implementation plans.
• Segment industrial networks from campus and corporate networks. Maintain controls-network segmentation.
• Author system and network architecture drawings, IP/VLAN schemes, and data flow diagrams.
• Support on-site deployment, physical network cutovers, and new site commissioning.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering, or other STEM discipline and 5+ years of professional network engineering experience; OR 8+ years of professional network engineering experience and high school diploma or equivalency certificate in lieu of a degree.

Preferred Skills and Experience

• Industrial, utility, or operational technology network engineering experience.
• Expert understanding of the OSI model and network standards.
• Cisco, Arista, and Juniper data center-class switches.
• Wave Division Multiplexing (WDM) and fiber optics infrastructure.
• Enterprise and media protocols.
• Switch port security features, network segmentation, QoS, multicast, and redundancy protocols.
• Network monitoring tools and layer-1 testing tools.
• Scripting (Bash, PowerShell, Python) and automation frameworks (Terraform, Ansible).
• Linux and Windows system administration.
• GitOps and infrastructure as code, as a user and as a contributor.
• Layer 2 and Layer 3 design, deployment, and troubleshooting in latency-sensitive or industrial environments.
• Functional experience with multiple network vendors in production or lab environments.
• Hands-on configuration of managed industrial switches and routers.
• Real-time systems, industrial control networks, or OT environments in aerospace, defense, energy, oil and gas, or similar high-reliability industries.
• Industry-standard certifications such as CCNA, CCNP, CCIE, JNCIS, JNCIP, or JNCIE.

Additional Requirements

• This role requires you to be onsite. Hybrid or remote work will not be considered.
• Must be willing to work extended hours and weekends as needed.
• Must have a valid driver's license.
• Ability to lift heavy objects up to 35 lbs. unassisted.
• Ability to provide 24x7 on-call support in emergency situations and participate in an after-hours on-call rotation.
• Willingness to occasionally travel to other sites to support new company initiatives.

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.