Lead Electrical Test Engineer, Customer Hardware (Starlink)

SpaceX is developing the technologies to enable human life on Mars and is leveraging its rocket and spacecraft expertise to deploy Starlink, the world’s most advanced broadband internet system. Starlink’s satellite constellation provides fast, reliable internet to millions of users worldwide, including remote teachers, Antarctic researchers, digital nomads, emergency responders, airlines, cruise lines, and rural residential users.

Responsibilities

• Lead a small team of test engineers developing fixtures, test cases, and automated test solutions for high‑volume consumer phased arrays, Wi‑Fi routers, power supplies, and upcoming products.
• Develop and maintain Design For Test (DFT) guidelines and collaborate with design teams to implement them on new products.
• Develop test strategies, perform thorough test‑coverage analyses, and conduct formal test‑strategy reviews with peer teams.
• Write automation software in Python to interact with units under test, test equipment, instrumentation, field data, and production documentation systems.
• Provide consistent feedback to design engineers, manufacturing engineers, and test‑lab teams to drive design or infrastructure improvements that increase product quality and yield.
• Challenge assumptions and devise simple solutions to complex problems.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering or another engineering discipline.
• 5+ years of experience with hardware development or electronics test engineering (including internship and extracurricular experience).
• 5+ years of object‑oriented programming experience.

Preferred Skills and Experience

• 2+ years of technical leadership experience.
• Experience analyzing circuits, developing functional test plans, and performing test‑coverage analysis.
• Experience designing and troubleshooting PCBAs.
• Proficiency with test equipment and measurement techniques (oscilloscope, multimeter, electronic load, spectrum analyzer, network analyzer, vector signal generator, source measurement unit, etc.).
• Understanding of electrical schematics and electronics manufacturing to analyze and improve test coverage.
• Knowledge of metrology, sources of measurement error, and uncertainty analysis.
• Experience using Git for repository interaction.
• Thorough understanding of electronics reliability and failure mechanisms.
• Experience with environmental testing such as HALT/HASS, thermal, vibration, and TVAC.
• Strong programming skills in Python and C/C++.
• Basic understanding of networking concepts, VLANs, and NAT.

Additional Requirements

• Ability to work extended hours or weekends as needed for mission‑critical deadlines.

ITAR Requirements

To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicants must be one of the following: a U.S. citizen or national; a U.S. lawful permanent resident (green card holder); a refugee under 8 U.S.C. 1157; an asylee under 8 U.S.C. 1158; or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.