I applied through a recruiter. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at SpaceX (Hawthorne, CA) in Apr 2016
Interview
The process started with an unscheduled phone interview with a technical recruiter. She asked me a list of about 10 questions about general physics principles regarding the position I had applied to (~30 min). Next was a 45 min phone interview with the lead engineer for the position I applied for. He asked me much more open ended, engineering questions. Most of them had to do with the basic principles taught in college and how they pertained to projects that I had worked on either in school or in internships (beam bending, stress/strain, vibrations, equations of motion, etc.). The process concluded with an on site interview that lasted ~4 hours with a 30 min technical presentation on a school/internship project. And 4, 30 min interviews with members of the team I was applied to. Half of the interviews were about my technical/engineering accomplishments where I was asked to specifically explain the engineering principles behind them. The other half were about my work style/desire to work at SpaceX/teamwork experience.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
What do you need to know to slow down an object moving towards you?
I applied online. I interviewed at SpaceX in Jun 2026
Interview
I completed the initial 20- 30-minute call. This did not have any technical questions. I provided my portfolio and explained how certain projects fit this role. I was given the next interview and set up a time at the end of this call.
Phone screen with recruiter followed by two phone calls with engineers and then an on-site interview where you present a presentation on a topic of your choice. Also other technical interviews on site as well.
Got reached out to by a recruiter on LinkedIn. Setting up an interview time was easy. The first interview screening was basically describing your past experiences. The second interview is technical. Whole process took a week.
Top companies for "Compensation and Benefits" near you