Sr. Automation Engineer, Blades and Vanes Foundry
Bastrop, TX · 5+ years experience · Posted Oct 7, 2026
At a glance
- Experience
- 5+ years experience
- Location
- Bastrop, TX
About the role
- The Blades and Vanes Investment Casting Manufacturing Team produces components for power generation using investment casting.
- As an automation engineer at SpaceX, you will apply first principles thinking to design, develop, and maintain core control systems at the cutting edge of investment casting and other manufacturing processes.
Responsibilities
- Integrate electromechanical and mechatronic systems with critical investment casting equipment, including wax injectors, ceramic injectors, preheating, melting, and controlled solidification furnaces
- Design and develop manufacturing data systems from concept to production, analyzing equipment KPI trends, conducting reliability analysis to create scalable systems for production output, quality inspection, real-time process optimization, and maintenance strategies to enhance equipment uptime and reliability
- Implement solutions for data collection/storage, using Python/SQL to interface with MES and production databases, while incorporating sensor data for real-time condition monitoring and fault prediction
- Create and optimize HMI/SCADA/MES interfaces; conduct in-house technology exploration; and integrate predictive analytics for equipment health monitoring
- Participate in initial equipment conceptual development and carefully balance product specifications, process requirements, layout complexity, cost, and lead-time limits
- Lay out new industrial electrical control panels that are NFPA79/NEC/UL508A compliant and create electrical, pneumatic, and fluid schematics
- Architect, write, and debug PLC code, emphasizing generating organized, structured, documented, maintainable, and reusable code for manufacturing applications
- Implement (ANSI/RIA15.06/OSHA compliant) control reliable safety systems for safeguarding robots, gantries, conveyors, and other manufacturing equipment
- Select and size electrical and electromechanical components such as servo motors and controllers
- Manage electrical cabinet builds, field wiring, pneumatic and fluid plumbing
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in an engineering, physics, or computer science discipline
- 5+ years experience in the design and commissioning of automation and controls systems for industrial applications
- Ability to work extended hours and weekends as needed to support critical milestones
- Must be willing to travel (up to 10%)
Preferred qualifications
- Proficiency in industrial systems, including configuring control networks (Ethernet/IP, PROFINET, BACnet, Serial Communication)
- Experience with multiple PLC systems (Siemens, Allen-Bradley, Beckhoff, etc.)
- Experience with programming ABB mechatronic systems
- Experience with electrical schematics using ePLAN for circuits and power distribution
- Exposure to a wide variety of production machinery, industrial sensors, and equipment (vision systems, dispense systems, temperature controllers, laser distance sensors, Nut-Runners, etc.)
- Hands-on experience in manufacturing settings, solving complex problems using data and customized solutions
- Proficiency in Python and SQL
- Experience solving complex problems with little to no supervision on schedule as an individual or as a member of an integrated team
Workplace
- Must be willing to travel (up to 10%)
Skills
- Python
- SQL
- PLC
- SCADA
- MES
- HMI
- ePLAN
- Ethernet/IP
- PROFINET
- BACnet
- Serial Communication
- Siemens
Show all 15 skills
- Allen-Bradley
- Beckhoff
- ABB
