How to Get a Job With SpaceX: A Comprehensive Guide

There are many opportunities at SpaceX for aerospace engineers and other professionals. Getting a job at SpaceX, however, can be challenging if you don’t know much about the company. Potential employees looking into how to work for SpaceX should know that it is the fastest-growing launch service provider in the United States, but that’s only the beginning.

SpaceX careers are attractive to a wide range of qualified engineers, managers, and business gurus. This definitive guide provides essential information to help you during the application and interview process. Even if you have no idea what types of skills to include on your resume and cover letter, we’re here to help you learn how to get a job with SpaceX. 

SpaceX: Company Background 

Elon Musk founded Space Exploration Technologies Corporation in 2002 to help bring space travel to the private sector, with the ultimate goal of taking human beings to Mars. Headquartered in Hawthorne, California, SpaceX has already become the first private company to successfully launch and return a spacecraft to Earth. The company’s main clientele is the Pentagon’s spy satellite arm, National Reconnaissance Office, as well as NASA. 

Since Falcon 9’s initial launch in 2010, SpaceX has conducted over 80 missions from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The future looks promising for SpaceX. Recently, Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa became the first paying customer for Musk’s planned Starship mission around the moon, currently slated for 2023. 

In addition, SpaceX also has satellites for providing broadband Internet services.

Getting a Job at SpaceX

Getting a job at SpaceX requires you to be passionate and unique. To rise above a pool of highly qualified applicants, you need to demonstrate past projects, skills, and expertise that cannot be matched. From the application to the job interview, you will need to set yourself apart in every step of the process in order to work for SpaceX.

Having excellent grades, a passion for aerospace, and extensive experience in the industry may land you an interview, but not necessarily the job. That’s because Elon Musk is also keen on interpersonal skills. With this, having great talent in engineering is not enough. You must also be a team player. 

The hiring process at SpaceX can take a relatively long time. It can last up to six months and includes several levels of screening. After going through a series of phone interviews, in-person interviews, and engineering tests, you may be shortlisted. 

The payoff is that getting a job at this company will give you job security, paid holidays, extensive maternity leave, generous retirement options, paid sick leave, life insurance, and a fitness membership. Learn more about how to get a job with SpaceX below.

How Hard Is It to Get a Job at SpaceX? 

Unless you are an expert in your field, it can be quite difficult to land a job at Elon Musk’s company. SpaceX hires top talent for each position, conducting a grueling series of interviews to ensure that it hires the best candidates. While they ask relatively challenging interview questions, a strong set of engineering skills will help you answer them. 

Make sure that you align your vision with the company’s vision, but you should do so in an authentic way. You can also impress the panel by talking about your past projects. Keep in mind that if just one team member doesn’t approve of you, you will not be hired. 

To land any job, you need to be prepared for the interview, and getting a job at SpaceX is no different. Conduct ample research about the organization in advance, and study up on company values. It will also be beneficial to know more about your potential interviewers, so you should check LinkedIn.

SpaceX Job Requirements

Since it is a large company, the SpaceX job requirements vary from position to position. The requirements to work at SpaceX as an engineer and as a marketing employee are not the same. However, like many tech companies, SpaceX only hires the best of the best, so you need to make sure you have an impressive resume and relevant skills for the position you would like.

What Degree Do You Need to Work at SpaceX?

Applicants will typically need at least a bachelor’s degree to work for SpaceX, since positions within the company are competitive. To land SpaceX engineering jobs, having a master’s degree in a relevant field is best. 

How to Apply for a Job at SpaceX

You can apply for a full-time or part-time job, depending on your schedule and the job type. To apply for a job at SpaceX, go to their website and navigate to the application. After you finish the application, you can expect a response in three to five months. 

If your resume is selected, you will be contacted and taken through a series of interviews. The first round of interviews is conducted via telephone and involves between two and four sessions of MCQ coding tests. Candidates who pass are invited to the SpaceX campus.

At the campus, you will go through seven face-to-face interviews with different team members. In one of the interviews, you will be required to present an original project idea to the panel. You will also take an engineering test. 

If a single interviewer has doubts about you, you will not get the job. Though the exact process of applying for a job at SpaceX may differ between departments, this is the typical hiring process. 

Review Your Resume

Getting a job at SpaceX is a huge opportunity and not an easy feat. Jobs within the space industry often have much more demand than supply. As such, it is important that you have a polished resume that will provide the hiring manager with a strong sense of your capabilities and experience. Make sure your resume is tailored to the specific position you are applying for. 

Have Strong References

It is one thing to boast about your own skills and competencies, but it is even better if other professionals also recommend you. Providing strong references on your application can help you get ahead of other job candidates. Having a former supervisor or colleague verify your skills is an excellent way to increase your chances of securing an interview. 

Bring Up Past Projects

Another great way to set yourself apart from other job seekers is to showcase past projects you have worked on. Have you designed an amateur rocket engine? Make sure the hiring managers know this. Highlighting your past experiences and responsibilities will also help verify your skills.

Prepare for Your SpaceX Interview

SpaceX has many opportunities waiting for talented individuals to fill. There are propulsion jobs, flight reliability jobs, software development jobs, and information technology jobs. You can also work at SpaceX as an intern. Internships at SpaceX are paid and assigned to one of SpaceX’s many locations, such as headquarters, a rocket and satellite development facility, or a launch site.

Review Common SpaceX Interview Questions

As mentioned above, the SpaceX interview process is long and consists of many different stages. As such, it carries a lot of weight within the application process. Job applicants should prepare by researching common SpaceX interview questions and answers. 

With this, you should also look into SpaceX’s technical interview questions. To get you started, here are several common interview questions that you will have to answer to get a job with SpaceX. 

• What do you know about SpaceX and our mission? 
• Why do you want to leave your current role to work at SpaceX? 
• How have you handled disagreements with your managers in the past? 

What’s It Like to Work at SpaceX?

Despite the company’s rapid growth, SpaceX still maintains a startup atmosphere and a flat corporate structure. All employees contribute to a rewarding and inspiring work environment, with everyone working together to actively develop space exploration strategies. Below is an overview of what it’s like to work at SpaceX, including what to expect from SpaceX’s company culture. 

Open Communication

Elon Musk is one of the most approachable CEOs in the corporate world. Employees have an easy time accessing him via email or face-to-face interaction. Managers and directors are also relatively easy to approach and speak with. 

Team Enthusiasm

Every time SpaceX launches a rocket, the employees gather around to cheer for the success, and everyone receives a launch patch to commemorate the occasion. It’s a gratifying experience for everyone and goes to show how unified and tight-knit the team is. 

All employees, moreover, are involved in the process of conducting phone and in-person interviews anytime the company is hiring. To get a job at SpaceX, everyone must agree unanimously that you are a perfect fit. 

Work-Life Balance

Trying to build a future for the next generation is not an easy task. You can find yourself working 13 hours a day, sometimes on weekends. In light of this, SpaceX offers employees a relaxation room where they can unwind, food and beverages onsite to ensure everyone is well-nourished, and regular space-themed movie nights. These are just some of the SpaceX job benefits employees can enjoy.

SpaceX Career Opportunities: Job Titles and Descriptions

A job at SpaceX is second to none for engineers, manufacturers, developers, and software designers. SpaceX job opportunities include those in aerospace engineering, space operations, avionics, test operations, vehicle engineering, satellite development, and more.

Below are some of the highest-paying tech positions at SpaceX. 

Senior Information Security Analyst

• Salary: $100K – $160K
• Benefits: Paid holidays, fitness membership, casual dress, and 401(k) 
• Required Experience: 5+ years of experience in information security
• Required Education: No education requirements listed

SpaceX puts security at the forefront of everything the company does. From flight software to internal financial details, SpaceX needs a large team of professionals to ensure that the company’s data is secure. The senior information security analyst position requires professionals to protect the company from attacks and vulnerabilities. To work in this role, you should be familiar with a wide range of information security processes.

Propulsion Engineer

• Salary: $75K – $150K
• Benefits: Paid holidays, fitness membership, casual dress, and 401(k) 
• Required Experience: Familiarity with computer software and running simulations based on principles of physics, experience with Siemens NX  
• Required Education: Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related field

This job requires an in-depth understanding of thermodynamics, mechanics, and thermochemistry. In collaboration with a team of software engineers, these individuals troubleshoot and enhance models for rocket engine development. 

Senior UX Designer

• Salary: $80K – $130K
• Benefits: Paid holidays, fitness membership, casual dress, and 401(k)  
• Required Experience: 5+ years of experience in UX or product design, experience with Figma and Adobe XD, experience with Adobe Creative Suite
• Required Education: Bachelor’s degree in a related field

Senior UX designers work on creating digital interfaces for both SpaceX and Starlink products and services. This is a collaborative position in which professionals will work closely with the engineering team. UX designers will need to develop prototypes, test designs, and implement feedback at various stages of development. 

Software Engineer 

• Salary: $90K – $130K 
• Benefits: Paid holidays, fitness membership, casual dress, and 401(k) 
• Required Experience: Ability to write code in object oriented programming languages like Python, Go, Scala, and Java; familiarity with build systems and UNIX-like operating systems, front end experience, database experience, production experience with Docker and Kubernetes
• Required Education: Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Math, or a related field

The key responsibilities for this role are to update prototypes and write software for both public-facing and internal applications. This is an excellent position for you if you are a software engineer and know debugging, unit testing, and performance optimization processes. 

You should also have the ability to work efficiently in a dynamic environment. For this role, you should be familiar with the software development life cycle. You should also have a flexible schedule, and be prepared to work weekends and long hours

Mission Manager

• Salary: $170K – $300K
• Benefits: Paid holidays, fitness membership, casual dress, and 401(k) 
• Required Experience: 5+ years of experience with the government, NASA, or a commercial space program
• Required Education: Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering, master’s degree preferred 

This position is for a professional who is adept in negotiation and finding solutions to complex problems. In this role, you will need to work with stakeholders to develop missions. In addition, mission managers need to present on technical topics, oversee technical developments, facilitate regulatory compliance, and manage a variety of contracts.

What Does It Take to Get a Job at SpaceX? 

If you want to know how to get a job with SpaceX, you should know the company is insistent on three main attributes. SpaceX wants employees to be passionate, self-driven, and talented. Make sure you highlight these three essential qualities in your resume and cover letter. You should list both hard skills and soft skills, showing how they relate to your commitment and passion. 

However, writing an excellent technical resume is not enough to get a job with SpaceX. You also need to polish your interview skills. Try reviewing the most common interview questions and practice with a colleague or friend. Many qualified candidates apply to SpaceX every day, even when they are not advertising. So make sure that you are fully prepared for the rigorous application process in order to get a job with SpaceX.

Frequently Asked Questions