Sr. Tooling Design Engineer, Investment Casting

About the role

SpaceX is hiring a Sr. Tooling Design Engineer to lead the design and development of wax injection molds and ceramic core injection molds for turbine blade and vane production. You will create tooling capable of achieving tight tolerances and complex internal cooling geometries while meeting aggressive production rate and cost goals. This position sits within the materials team and directly influences casting yield, dimensional accuracy, and manufacturability of flight-critical hardware.

Key facts

The molds you design are used to produce turbine blades and vanes, which require intricate internal cooling geometries and very tight dimensional tolerances. Because these components are flight-critical, the tooling must perform reliably at high production rates while meeting cost targets. You will be responsible for the full lifecycle of the tooling, from concept through to production release.

What you'll do

• Create high-precision wax injection molds and ceramic core injection molds for turbine blades and vanes with intricate geometries.
• Interpret mold filling simulations and use first-principles analysis to refine gating, venting, cooling, and shrinkage compensation.
• Manage multi-stage shrinkage factors across wax, ceramic, and alloy phases to satisfy strict dimensional and metallurgical specs.
• Lead tooling projects from initial concept through tryout, qualification, and production release.
• Partner with casting engineers, materials scientists, and vendors to resolve tooling-related defects and boost yield.
• Perform advanced GD&T and tolerance stack-up analysis on complex airfoil shapes.
• Contribute to design for manufacturability efforts that enable high-rate output without sacrificing quality or cost targets.
• Coordinate with internal manufacturing groups and external tooling suppliers to translate designs into reliable production tooling.
• Advance tooling standards, material selection, and maintenance protocols for high-volume casting operations.

The heart of this work is managing dimensional accuracy across a multi-stage process. Each component passes through wax, ceramic, and alloy phases, and each stage has its own shrinkage behavior, so you must manage the combined shrinkage factors carefully to satisfy the final dimensional and metallurgical specifications. You will use mold filling simulations alongside first-principles analysis to refine gating, venting, cooling, and shrinkage compensation before the tooling is cut.

This role combines hands-on engineering with cross-functional coordination. You will work closely with casting engineers and materials scientists to resolve tooling-related defects and improve yield, and you will coordinate with both internal manufacturing groups and external tooling suppliers to take designs into reliable production tooling. A strong understanding of the investment casting process, including shrinkage and distortion mechanisms, is central to success, as is the ability to advance tooling standards, material selection, and maintenance protocols for high-volume operations.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, manufacturing engineering, or another engineering field.
• 5+ years of professional experience designing high-precision injection molds for wax patterns or ceramics.

Nice to have

• Track record of guiding complex tooling from design through production qualification.
• Direct mold design experience for turbine blade and vane manufacturing.
• Proficiency with Siemens NX.
• Familiarity with injection molding simulation software.
• Strong knowledge of wax and ceramic material behavior, rheology, and processing.
• Solid grasp of the investment casting process and related shrinkage and distortion mechanisms.
• Background in fast-paced, high-mix manufacturing settings.
• Hands-on involvement in mold tryouts and casting process development.
• Experience with manufacturing tooling including CNC machining and mold making.

Skills & tools

Siemens NX, injection molding simulation software, GD&T and tolerance stack-up analysis, investment casting process knowledge, wax and ceramic material processing.

Practical notes

Must be willing to work extended hours and weekends as needed for hardware delivery and production campaigns. Travel up to 25% to external suppliers and other SpaceX sites. ITAR requirement: applicants must be a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, lawful permanent resident (green card holder), refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or otherwise eligible to obtain required U.S. Department of State authorizations. Accommodation requests for the application or interview process can be sent to EEOCompliance@spacex.com.

About the company

Based in Starbase, Texas, a company pursues work in spaceflight, telecom, and artificial intelligence. A unit handles rocket launches, leading yearly orbital counts beyond other national and commercial teams. Another unit runs Starlink, a satellite communications firm. A third area, through SpaceXAI, advances Grok and AI integration with X, while managing data center operations. Roles often cross these paths. Candidates with engineering, software, or operations backgrounds may find chances to join projects that span launch, connectivity, and machine learning efforts in this Texas-based enterprise.