The interview process includes:

• Recruiter phone screen
• Engineering director phone screen
• All-day in-person interview:
  • Presentation to a group
  • Engineering knowledge/skills quiz
  • Multiple one-on-one meetings
• Two executive management phone calls

Following a successful in-person interview, your 3-5 bullet-point executive summary of highest accomplishments goes across Elon's desk.

The in-person interview begins with a presentation to a group on a design project. You will have one hour to present and take questions from the attendees. Many applicants come from Formula SAE or other project teams, and many engineers at SpaceX serve as design judges at national competitions, so be prepared for tough questions. If they do not like your presentation, you will be asked to leave immediately after. If they do like your presentation, you will proceed to lunch with a manager, followed by a structures or other engineering quiz, depending on the position you are applying for. Then, there are 3-4 hours of one-on-one meetings with engineers, managers, and directors.

Overall, this is a very thorough process. I ended up learning a significant amount about the company and left the all-day in-person interview feeling very excited about the potential future opportunity. If they like you, they will tell you that it went well and get you excited about potentially working there.

Mechanical engineering fundamentals questions, including:

• Beam bending
• Shear and moment diagrams
• Buckling strength
• Cross sections and moments of inertia
• Open-ended design questions
• Materials strength and properties basic knowledge and understanding

Questions to address corporate culture and fit, and questions to see if I was scrappy, quick on my feet, intelligent, and had the correct work ethic.