I applied through an employee referral. The process took 1 week. I interviewed at SpaceX (Hawthorne, CA) in Aug 2011
Interview
I didn't apply through the front door so I can't comment on how that works.
I got the phone # of a hiring manager, called and emailed him a cover letter and resume, and HR set-up an in-person interview with the whole team of 8-10 engineers.
I met them all in a conference room and gave a 20 minute presentation covering a past design project that demonstrated my expertise. They grilled me with tough questions to assess my critical thinking and design analysis. Then they gave me a tour, let me ask questions and called me a day later with an offer letter.
Very professional and tight, but also laid back - most people there are young professionals in Southern Calfornia and show up in shorts and flip flops.
Make sure you know your stuff cold - they are all top performers and will drill down into the tough details to get a sense for how you will fit their culture, where you will have meetings like this on a weekly basis and have your designs and analysis ripped apart by aerospace experts who will come down hard on you for mistakes (tough love).
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
A 20 minute presentation covering a past design project that demonstrated my expertise for the position.
For Initial phone interview: asked about why you applied/liked the company. Then rapid fire technical questions that were generally very basic. Some time for questions about the role and to describe a project that you worked on in the past.
I applied online. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at SpaceX (Boca Chica and Medford Colonia, TX) in Mar 2025
Interview
It started with a resume screening and then another technical interview with the lead engineer who is working on the boosters for starship. And a lot of other things like that.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
One thing they asked me was the deflection of the beam that is on a fixed end and another at a free end.
The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at SpaceX (Brownsville, TX) in Aug 2024
Interview
There was an initial phone screening with a recruiter, then a technical screening with the hiring manager, then flyout interview to the site with 1-1s with the hiring manager, recruiter, and different members of the team.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
What is the difference between different kinds of ceramic capacitors and what do the various ratings mean?