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.
DRAGON LEAD OPERATIONS ENGINEER
The Dragon Lead Operations Engineer will support efforts to guide and align Dragon production with the manifest and mission decisions based on customer requirements and production constraints. They will interface with all stakeholders (Production, Engineering, Mission Management & Vehicle Engineering) to understand the customers’ needs while working with direct owners to develop efficient and level-loaded production plans with considerations for the rapidly changing manifest demand. The Lead will ensure all internal planning targets are set, track progress of targeted and forecasted schedules, work with appropriate stakeholders to identify potential configuration issues, allocation discrepancies and evaluate impact of production/refurb delays against Dragon manifest goals, and drive necessary mitigating actions. The Lead will forge a strong partnership with the Cape Canaveral team to determine the customer constraints and how to create a seamless flow of parts back and forth to Hawthorne and the Cape.
This role requires critical thinking and decision-making skills, the ability to see the big picture of the Dragon program while simultaneously diving into details, and creating innovative solutions for a seamless and sustainable production system. The Lead must interpret signals from across the company, understand critical path drivers, formulate data-driven recommendations, and get leadership buy-in for them.
RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Lead a small team of analysts and/or engineers as well as schedulers and/or specialists owning component-level refurbishment in support of Dragon processing campaigns
- Lead optimization across Dragon production through metrics & dashboards to tackle some of the most pressing issues (fleet health, MRP demand configurations, rate adherence, WIP management, hours targets for production)
- This role will also be responsible for setting up a world-class Dragon production system in regards to layout optimization, capacity analysis in regards to headcount and efficiency wins through gap analysis and tool/process organization. Goal is to identify gaps and ideate on innovative original solutions for the work center
- Collaborate with the Cape stakeholders to develop a strategic roadmap for transitioning hardware refurbishment to the Cape over time by centralizing and driving site specific scope transfer planning
- Create and drive a strategy and plan to get all flight proven hardware to ideal fleet health. Will require analysis, deep diving technical hardware problems, and collaboration with engineering teams to design, test and build hardware to last a minimum of 5 flights
- Serve as a liaison between vehicle campaigns to help prioritize competing needs for facilities and resources to achieve manifest requirements
- Drive scenario analysis around allocations and part planning to present options that optimize production schedule and customer needs
- Ability to present trade offs at a high level with the skill to deep dive data to drive decision making
- Understand the entire production system, processes, and capabilities and ensure production needs are accurately reflected into the top-level Master Schedule plan
- Resolve top-level BOM configurations, critical path, and lead-time discrepancies to determine true root cause through to solution implementation
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:
- Bachelor’s degree in an engineering discipline
- 2+ years of professional experience in operations, manufacturing, project management or consulting
PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:
- Master’s degree in business, supply chain, management information systems, computer science, finance, or engineering discipline
- Prior leadership experience with individuals direct reports
- 1+ years of experience with writing SQL queries
- 2+ years of practical experience with ERP/MRP systems in a production environment
- 2+ years of experience using Microsoft Project, Excel or Smartsheet
- Prior experience with spacecraft integration or launch vehicle integration
- Experience building dashboards in PowerBI, Tableau or other equivalent
- Familiarity with lean principles, six sigma and Kaizen concepts
- Project management professional certification
- Strong communication and presenting skills
- Skilled at taking in large quantities of information and presenting it in a clear and concise manner
- Fast learner who takes initiative in resolving system-level problems
- Ability to work with limited supervision to develop and manage program plans and schedules. Understanding of a product development process in an engineering environment and the transition to production process in a business environment.
- The ability to be diplomatically persuasive or assertive when necessary
- Ability to work and communicate well with others in a team environment
- Ability to influence without authority
ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS:
- Must be willing to work extended hours and weekends
COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS:
Pay range:
Lead Operations Engineer/Lead: $125,000.00 - $175,000.00/per year
Your actual level and base salary will be determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on the following considerations: job-related knowledge and skills, education, and experience.
Base salary is just one part of your total rewards package at SpaceX. You may also be eligible for long-term incentives, in the form of company stock, stock options, or long-term cash awards, as well as potential discretionary bonuses and the ability to purchase additional stock at a discount through an Employee Stock Purchase Plan. You will also receive access to comprehensive medical, vision, and dental coverage, access to a 401(k) retirement plan, short and long-term disability insurance, life insurance, paid parental leave, and various other discounts and perks. You may also accrue 3 weeks of paid vacation and will be eligible for 10 or more paid holidays per year. Exempt employees are eligible for 5 days of sick leave per year.
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 notify the Human Resources Department at (310) 363-6000.