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 (approximately 30 minutes).

Next was a 45-minute phone interview with the lead engineer for the position. He asked me much more open-ended engineering questions. Most of them had to do with basic principles taught in college and how they pertained to projects I had worked on, either in school or during internships (beam bending, stress/strain, vibrations, equations of motion, etc.).

The process concluded with an on-site interview that lasted approximately 4 hours. This included a 30-minute technical presentation on a school/internship project and four, 30-minute interviews with members of the team I had applied to.

Half of the interviews focused on 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, and teamwork experience.

What do you need to know to slow down an object moving towards you?