SpaceX Sr. Welding Engineer at SpaceX responsible for developing, qualifying, and optimizing welding processes for Starship components. Leads a team supporting advanced welding and joining processes for critical vehicle mechanisms.
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, and gas metal arc welding
Support production operations on full scale welded assemblies, providing direction to production technicians, specialists, 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 test 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 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
Qualification
Advanced degree in welding engineering
Required
Bachelor’s degree in an engineering discipline
5+ years of experience with hands-on fabrication, manufacturing, or testing experience with welded assemblies
Preferred
Advanced degree in welding engineering, materials science and engineering, mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, or physics
Expertise and engineering knowledge in tooling, automation, welding engineering, components design, and/or components manufacturing
Expertise in welding processes such as laser, electron beam, OTW, GTAW, and GMAW, preferably with stainless steel and nickel alloys
CNC and/or 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
