SpaceX in Texas: 533 open roles across Bastrop, Starbase, and McGregor

Texas is SpaceX's largest state footprint by headcount and it's still growing. With 533 active job listings across three facilities, the Lone Star State now rivals — and by some measures surpasses — SpaceX's historic home base in Hawthorne, California. Each Texas site serves a distinct function in SpaceX's production and testing pipeline, and the types of roles available at each differ dramatically.

Here's what's happening at each location and what it means for job seekers.

Bastrop: the Starlink factory town

Bastrop is SpaceX's newest and fastest-growing Texas facility, with 270 open positions making it the single largest hiring location in the state. The site manufactures Starlink satellites and user terminals at a scale that would've seemed unrealistic five years ago.

The facility — sometimes called the "Gigabay" — opened in December 2023 and produced 1 million Starlink customer kits within its first nine months. It manufactures Starlink user terminals (dishes, routers, cables, mounting hardware) and is expanding into semiconductor manufacturing. In March 2025, Texas awarded SpaceX a $17.3 million grant for a $280 million expansion that will make Bastrop the largest PCB and panel-level packaging facility in North America, adding 400+ new jobs.

Current Bastrop roles span manufacturing, engineering, and support:

Category	Example Roles	Volume
Manufacturing	CNC machinists, build technicians, process engineers	High
Software	Application engineers, automation engineers	Medium
Supply Chain	Procurement, logistics, warehouse operations	Medium
Customer Support	Bilingual associates (Greek, Korean, Ukrainian, Spanish)	Medium
Business	Sales managers, accounts receivable, operations analysts	Medium
Food Service	Cooks, baristas, hospitality supervisors	Growing

The customer support presence is notable. SpaceX runs Starlink's global customer service operation from Bastrop, which means they hire for dozens of language pairs. If you speak a less-common language and want to work at SpaceX without an engineering degree, Bastrop's customer support team is a legitimate entry point.

Starbase (Brownsville): where Starship happens

Brownsville — officially branded as "Starbase" — is SpaceX's Starship development and launch facility at the southern tip of Texas. With 236 active listings, it's the most technically ambitious of the three sites.

Starbase was formally incorporated as a city in May 2025, with SpaceX VP Bobby Peden serving as mayor and 500+ full-time residents including employees and families. SpaceX has created approximately 2,100 jobs at this location. The work here is fundamentally different from Bastrop: instead of high-volume satellite manufacturing, Starbase does rapid-iteration vehicle development on the largest rocket ever built.

Sample roles currently open at Starbase:

• Build engineers — Starship structures, thermal hardware, welding
• Aerodynamics engineers — Starship flight profile and reentry analysis
• Avionics technicians — Integration and testing of flight electronics
• Automation engineers — Manufacturing automation for Starship production
• Build reliability engineers — Testing and welding quality
• CNC machinists — Thermal and structural component fabrication

The vibe at Starbase is closer to a startup than a production facility. Employees describe long hours, rapid design changes, and the unique experience of watching test flights from their workplace. If you're the kind of engineer who wants to be physically close to hardware that's pushing boundaries, this is the site.

The location itself is remote. Brownsville is a border city at the very bottom of Texas, and Starbase is several miles further south on Boca Chica Beach. SpaceX has been building out on-site housing and community infrastructure — the incorporation as a city reflects how permanent this facility has become. But the isolation is real. For some people that's a dealbreaker; for others, it's part of the appeal.

McGregor: the original Texas outpost

McGregor is SpaceX's rocket engine test facility, a 4,500-acre site in central Texas between Waco and Temple. It's the smallest of the three sites with 27 active positions, but it's the most historically significant — SpaceX has been testing engines here since 2003.

Every Merlin, Raptor, and Draco engine goes through qualification testing at McGregor before it flies. The facility has multiple test stands for both development and acceptance testing, and the rumble of engine firings is a daily occurrence.

Current McGregor roles reflect the site's testing mission:

• Propulsion engineers — Raptor development and testing
• Test engineers — Falcon engine acceptance
• Electrical engineers — Power systems, instrumentation and controls
• Software engineers — Test automation and data systems
• Facilities engineers — Maintaining test infrastructure
• Technicians — Test operations, telecommunications, development testing

The only role with published salary data is a Senior Ground Software Engineer at $160,000-$220,000 — consistent with SpaceX's compensation for experienced engineers.

McGregor is ideal for propulsion specialists. If you want to work on Raptor engine development — arguably the most advanced rocket engine ever built — this is where it happens.

Salary expectations in Texas

SpaceX publishes salary data for very few Texas positions. From what's available:

SpaceX is not known for top-of-market cash compensation. The value proposition is equity (pre-IPO stock), mission, and resume impact. Texas's lack of state income tax does help your take-home pay compared to California roles, though. For a detailed breakdown of SpaceX compensation across all locations, see our SpaceX salary guide.

How to choose between the three sites

Your decision should be driven by what kind of work you want to do:

Choose Bastrop if:

• You want high-volume manufacturing or production engineering
• You're interested in Starlink (satellite or terminal production)
• You want to live in or near Austin
• You have customer support or business operations experience

Choose Starbase if:

• You want to work directly on Starship
• You thrive in fast-paced, ambiguous, startup-like environments
• You're okay with a remote location and long hours
• You're a build engineer, structures engineer, or avionics technician

Choose McGregor if:

• You're a propulsion engineer or test engineer
• You want to work on Raptor engine development
• You prefer a smaller, focused team environment
• You're based in the Waco/Temple area

Texas vs. Hawthorne

SpaceX's Hawthorne, CA headquarters still has 559 active listings, making it the single largest SpaceX location. But the trend is clear: Texas is growing faster. Bastrop didn't exist five years ago and now has 270 openings. Starbase has scaled from a collection of tents to a major launch complex.

The advantages of Texas for SpaceX are practical: lower labor costs, no state income tax for employees, abundant land for testing and manufacturing, and a state government that actively courts aerospace companies. For job seekers, the same factors translate into lower cost of living and — potentially — a slightly better quality of life compared to LA.

Start your search

Browse all 1,569 active SpaceX positions on Zero G Talent. Filter by Texas specifically with our space jobs in Texas page, or explore SpaceX salary data for compensation details across all locations.