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Thermal Development Technician, Robotic Welding (Starship)

SpaceX · Starbase, TX

Posted Sep 7, 2026

Est. total comp~$110K–$157K

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From the posting

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.

THERMAL DEVELOPMENT TECHNICIAN, ROBOTIC WELDING (STARSHIP)

The Thermal Protection Systems (TPS) team tackles space exploration’s most challenging problems, owning the development and integration of the heat shield for our next-generation spacecraft, Starship. This hardware must survive the most extreme environments known to mankind and protect our vehicle through atmospheric reentry. As a technician on the TPS team, you will primarily be responsible for maintaining, programming, and operating robotic and automated systems while supporting heat shield manufacturing and integration.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Provide maintenance on various equipment: vacuum chambers, thermal chambers, CNC machines, and robotic welders

Maintain, repair, and operate all robotic assets to ensure their proper operating condition

Replace and install electrical components such as switches, relays, contactors, transformers, rectifiers, circuit breakers, fuses, and sensors for temperature/pressure/position

Replace and install mechanical components such as bearings, bushings, motors, shafts, collars, couplings, pulleys, belts, gears, chains, rollers, pumps, valves, hoses, and o-rings on a variety of system equipment …

Excerpt from SpaceX's public job board. Read the full posting.

Job inventory

Required 3 items

Education: High school diploma or equivalent

Certifications and licenses: valid Driver's License

Other: Shift, weekend or overtime work

Preferred 7 items

Experience: 3+ years of experience

Skills and tools: PLC, Welding, CNC, Forklift, Robotics, Schematics

We have not read this posting carefully yet, so it cannot show as Mission Ready. These items come from a keyword scan.

Get ready for this role

Crew department: Life Support

Skills this kind of role usually asks for:

Welding
Thermal systems
Thermal and fluid systems
Sensors and controls
Reliability and redundancy

Train for it: the Life Support Track: HVAC, Cooling, Water and Power. 4 short modules, a quiz after each one and a final test. Pass it and you get the Mars Mining Certificate in Life Support Fundamentals, with its own public page you can link from your resume.

Join the crew and train for this role About Life Support

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I can do Welding on the job, or have used it in a class or project I can do Thermal systems on the job, or have used it in a class or project I can do Thermal and fluid systems on the job, or have used it in a class or project I can do Sensors and controls on the job, or have used it in a class or project I can do Reliability and redundancy on the job, or have used it in a class or project I have a project or work sample I could show an interviewer My resume is tailored to this kind of role I've practiced answering interview questions for this kind of job

Free. The department comes from the job title and can be off. A Mars Mining certificate shows you studied and passed our test; it isn't a license or academic credit.

About this listing. Pulled automatically from SpaceX's public job board and refreshed daily; closed roles are removed. Mars Mining Co. is not the employer, does not take applications and does not screen candidates. Field and level labels come from the job title and can be wrong.

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