From engineers to cooks, SpaceX is looking to boost its workforce at Vandenberg Space Force Base as the firm aims for weekly Falcon 9 rocket launches in 2024, and more in the coming years.
The firm launched its third Falcon 9 rocket of the year Tuesday afternoon from Vandenberg with 22 Starlink satellites on board after several weather-related delays. The rocket launched at 4:35 p.m., with deployment of the satellites expected an hour later.
As SpaceX boosts its launch rate on the West Coast due to satellites needing rides into orbit, the company intends to grow its workforce.
More than 40 positions are posted on the SpaceX website offering jobs for three shifts and weekends.
During a REACH Ideas + Action Summit in Goleta last week, Felicia Casciano, SpaceX senior manager of launch operations, spoke about the hiring campaign.
In addition to Space Launch Complex-4, SpaceX will be adding a second facility, Space Launch Complex-6, to help as the cadence climbs.
In 2024, the company expect 50 launches, and even more in 2025.
In the fall, a SpaceX manager said the firm had 300 employees at Vandenberg, with plans to grow to more than 700 workers at the base in the coming years.
Engineers and technicians are needed, along with security and food service workers.
Slots needed to be filled range from those with higher education and significant experience to ones with specialized certificates or skills.
“Every job that you can think of we need, in addition to building our infrastructure. This isn’t something we need in five years, this is something we need tomorrow,” Casciano said. “We’re already behind in where we need to be from a growth perspective.”
In the next year, SpaceX expects to hire approximately 100 people to fill jobs at Vandenberg, with additional hiring expected in the years after that.
Some openings seek workers for the second shift or 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. Others offer day-shift of 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays or 5 p.m. to 5 a.m. Mondays through Fridays.
One mentions 12-hour weekend shifts, Fridays through Mondays, starting at 6 a.m. or 6 p.m.
Of course, any would-be worker must have the ability to pass an Air Force background check and willingness to travel and be flexible for shifts.
Another company planning to send its rocket into space from the West Coast, Relativity Space, expects to need all types of employees, according to Joshua Brost, senior vice president of revenue options.
The firm will make “a massive capital investment,” and will create jobs for construction and then the operations.
“You’re talking hundreds of jobs in heavy construction. That’s welders, that’s electricians, that’s steelworkers, all sorts of (jobs). And once the site is operating, it’s a very wide-ranging skill set that you need on the site,” Brost said.
“It’s not just one thing, it’s actually a whole eco-system that we’re needing to grow,” he added.