SpaceX jobs in Brownsville, TX: Starbase hiring in 2026
~3,000
Starbase Employees
Starship
Primary Program
Low CoL
Brownsville Area
SpaceX's Starbase facility near Brownsville, Texas is the production and launch site for Starship — the largest and most powerful rocket ever built. The facility has grown to approximately 3,000 employees and is actively hiring.
What Starbase does
- Starship production — Full-stack manufacturing of the Super Heavy booster and Starship upper stage
- Launch operations — Orbital launch pad, launch tower with "chopstick" catch mechanism
- Rapid iteration — Hardware-rich development: build, test, fly, repeat
- Infrastructure expansion — Continued build-out of production tents, test stands, and launch infrastructure
Roles and pay
| Role | Salary Range |
|---|---|
| Production Technician | $18–$28/hr ($37K–$58K) |
| Welder/Fabricator | $20–$32/hr ($42K–$67K) |
| Test Engineer | $80,000–$130,000 |
| Design Engineer | $90,000–$150,000 |
| Avionics Technician | $22–$35/hr ($46K–$73K) |
| Software Engineer | $100,000–$170,000 |
Brownsville/Starbase pay is lower than Hawthorne or Redmond, but the cost of living is among the lowest of any SpaceX site. Texas has no state income tax.
Why people choose Starbase
- Starship — The most ambitious rocket program in history
- Rapid pace — Hardware ships in weeks, not years
- Low cost of living — Brownsville housing is very affordable
- No state tax — Texas
- Growth — The facility is still expanding; career advancement opportunities as the program scales
The tradeoffs: Brownsville is remote (4+ hours from any major city), the work pace is extreme (60-80+ hour weeks), and the Rio Grande Valley has limited entertainment and amenities compared to metro areas.
For more detail, see our SpaceX Brownsville hiring guide. Browse SpaceX positions on Zero G Talent.
