Manager, Gateway Electronics Engineering (Starlink)

SpaceX
Bastrop, US
On-site

Who this role is best for

Aimed at mid-level electrical engineering managers who thrive in multidisciplinary hardware development and rapid product cycles within aerospace or telecommunications.

Best fit for

  • Electrical engineering leaders with experience in full-cycle hardware development for harsh environments.
    — “Significant experience rapidly designing and delivering highly-reliable products, especially for harsh or high stakes environments
  • Managers who can architect mixed-signal systems while mentoring junior engineers.
    — “Significant experience designing and implementing mixed-signal circuit boards from concept through production
  • Candidates comfortable with high-velocity production and cross-functional alignment.
    — “Maintain alignment with key partners such as antenna, software, mechanical, networking, thermal, manufacturing, and production test teams

Things to consider

  • Frequent travel required to SpaceX sites in California and Washington.
    — “Must travel to other SpaceX sites (Hawthorne, CA and Redmond, WA)
  • Extended work hours including weekends may be necessary.
    — “Ability to work long hours and weekends as necessary
  • US citizenship or permanent residency required due to export controls.
    — “To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national

How to stand out

  • Showcase specific examples of hardware designs that survived extreme environmental testing.
    — “designing and qualifying hardware for EMC/EMI compliance and thermal management
  • Highlight experience scaling designs from prototypes to mass production.
    — “driving hardware design from concept through production
  • Demonstrate leadership in recruiting and developing technical teams.
    — “Recruit, develop, and promote a team of exceptional engineers
Pace · Fast PacedCollaboration · HighAutonomy · HighDecision Impact · CompanyLevel · Manager

Derived from job-description analysis by Serendipath's career intelligence engine.

What success looks like

  • reliable gateway systems
  • high performance electronics
Typical background
electrical engineeringteam management

Skills & requirements

Required

Electrical EngineeringTeam ManagementElectrical ArchitectureComponent SelectionCircuit Board Design

Preferred

Satellite CommunicationAntenna Design

Stack & domain

Electronics EngineeringElectrical EngineeringSoftware EngineeringMechanical EngineeringManufacturingProduction TestingLeadershipProblem-solvingTeamworkSatellite CommunicationElectronic Design

About the role

Original posting from SpaceX via Greenhouse

SpaceX was founded under the belief that a future where humanity is out exploring the stars is fundamentally more exciting than one where we are not. Today SpaceX is actively developing the technologies to make this possible, with the ultimate goal of enabling human life on Mars.

MANAGER, GATEWAY ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING (STARLNK)

Starlink believes in providing fast, reliable internet to serve populations with little or no connectivity. We design, build, launch, and operate the world's largest constellation of satellites, enabling us to operate a global internet network unbounded by traditional ground infrastructure limitations. Starlink also designs, builds, and delivers high-volume consumer hardware that allows users to connect to these satellites within minutes of unboxing, as well as our advanced gateways that we deploy regionally throughout the world. The root of SpaceX’s success so far lies in our mission to keep all engineering and production in-house, which enables a tight feedback loop, nimble decision-making, and speedy deliverables. With millions of daily users worldwide already online, Starlink is truly a game changer and levels the playing field for those who were previously unconnected.

As the Electronics Manager on the Starlink team, you will be responsible for the design, performance, and reliability of next-generation gateways - ultimately ensuring that our ground station antenna hardware can withstand the harshest environmental conditions while maintaining reliable communication with millions of users on a global scale. You will interact regularly with senior leadership to influence the fundamental operation of our constellation and network while collaborating with electrical, silicon, software, mechanical, and manufacturing teams to steer this project from initial concept development to full-scale production.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Manage a team of 5-10 engineers to rapidly design, develop, and validate highly reliable electronics for our gateway systems

Drive electrical architecture, specification, component selection, circuit board design, implementation, verification, board bring-up, and debugging

Define and manage all key project milestones and deliverables

Maintain alignment with key partners such as antenna, software, mechanical, networking, thermal, manufacturing, and production test teams to drive overall business success

Compile and maintain lessons learned to influence future designs. Understand and implement long-term technical and business solutions that meet/exceed goals to deliver for our customers and Starlink’s vision

Drive product architecture with a focus on innovative solutions to achieve low cost, greater performance, best user experience, and extended reliability. Implement automated design validation tests and production tests as necessary

Recruit, develop, and promote a team of exceptional engineers and/or specialists responsible for designing, analyzing, building, and testing existing and new Starlink gateways. Set standards, and hold the team accountable to deliver with high technical rigor and discipline

Own and build out associated engineering lab or development workspaces; hire necessary team members to deliver assets required, and efficiently manage associated capital spend

Consistently contribute effort, leadership, and creative thinking to solving complex problems in a collaborative fashion and under tight deadlines. Above all, remain dependable, which means being unfazed by ambiguity or major changes in strategic direction

Ensure a strong focus is placed on safety and maintain an excellent safety record

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:

Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering, physics, or other engineering/STEM discipline

7+ years of professional experience with hardware design/development or electronics test engineering

3+ years of management experience

PREFERRED SKILLS & EXPERIENCE:

Previous experience managing large and multidisciplinary technical projects, ideally driving hardware design from concept through production; strong emphasis on full life-cycle development of new hardware products and not small incremental updates to legacy hardware

Significant experience rapidly designing and delivering highly-reliable products, especially for harsh or high stakes environments in the field

Significant experience designing and implementing mixed-signal circuit boards from concept through production using processors, FPGAs, Ethernet, multi-GHz Serdes, DRAM interfaces (DDR4), I2C, SPI, operational amplifiers, analog to digital and digital to analog converters, and power supply components

Significant experience testing, troubleshooting, and debugging electronics 

Strong problem-solving skills when designing and qualifying hardware for EMC/EMI compliance and thermal management

Strong understanding of computers and programming languages (Python, C/C++)

Strong understanding of computer networking and interfaces (10/100/400/800G networking/Tbps switches)

Strong understanding of optical networking architectures and fundamentals

Experience in desktop/server Linux and embedded operating systems

Experience leading a diverse team of engineers, while providing technical direction and strong mentorship

Ability to communicate complex concepts, problems, and solutions clearly and effectively to all levels within the organization

Ability to manage multiple concurrent programs and be able to discuss configuration, execution, and results in a technical manner

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS: 

Must travel to other SpaceX sites (Hawthorne, CA and Redmond, WA) as needed to interface with team members and drive technical projects

Ability to work long hours and weekends as necessary

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.  

SpaceX is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with SpaceX is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.

Applicants wishing to view a copy of SpaceX’s Affirmative Action Plan for veterans and individuals with disabilities, or applicants requiring reasonable accommodation to the application/interview process should reach out to EEOCompliance@spacex.com. 

Source: SpaceX careers (Greenhouse)

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