I applied online. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at SpaceX
Interview
I put in an application online expecting nothing. 1 day later, I got a call back from a recruiter to schedule an interview. The interview was a phone interview with a senior engineer. It delved deeply into the technical details of my previous internship and project experience. Make sure you can explain everything on your resume, and talk in great detail about your projects and why you did what you did. Overall, I thought the phone interview went poorly because I was struggling to recall some fine details of my work.
Apparently, the call went well because 3 days later I found out I was selected to move onto the next round. I STRONGLY recommend you send a powerpoint presentation overviewing your projects to your interviewer. I did this and I think it made a huge difference. Having visuals helps the interviewer understand what you're trying to explain.
For the next round, they sent me a take-home project. I spent many hours on it and wrote up a paper. The assignment was very ambiguous and it could have been approached in at least two ways with different results. I asked them about this and they never responded; after I submitted my work, they said I failed to address some key components of the solution. Had they answered my initial questions, i probably would have been able to have done that. Oh well.
Anyway, the recruiters were very nice and timely. SpaceX seems to move fast for the hiring process, which is good.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Literally just know everything there is to know about your previous internship and project experience. Also try to mention relevant coursework. And for my interview, there were no brain teasers or school-type questions.
I applied online. I interviewed at SpaceX in Mar 2026
Interview
My interview experience at SpaceX was disappointing. The expectations felt extremely high, even for mid-level roles. Missing even one or two questions seemed to stop the process, and there was little tolerance for not knowing something.
It felt like they prioritize candidates who already know everything rather than those willing to learn. Overall, a very rigid and negative experience.
Round 1) Recruiter Phone Call
Round 2-4+) Phone call with Lead Engineer, Manager, etc.
Round 5) On-Site with Technical Presentation and One-on-Ones
I found the questions in the in-person one-on-ones were equal or slightly harder than the phone screening questions
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Why SpaceX? (Was asked this during all four phone screenings)
1 on 1 interview standard fundamental mech questions from coursework fluids, statics, structures, heat transfer, thermo etc. asked lots of questions and follow ups to get a gauge of thinking
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
fixed cantilever beam point load p at the end what is the defleciton eq?