--- title: 'Intern/Associate Engineer - All Roles at Starpath Robotics' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/intern-associate-engineer-all-roles-starpath-robotics-hawthorne-x72ernec0zvg' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-08' --- # Intern/Associate Engineer - All Roles at Starpath Robotics - **Company:** Starpath Robotics - **Location:** Hawthorne, CA - **Compensation:** $70k–$90k - **Employment:** internship - **Work type:** onsite - **Posted:** 2026-08-25 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-08 - **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/starpath.space/a67d20c0-c331-4874-9588-ae5762a6a078 ## Job description Intern & Associate Engineers Position Details Location: Los Angeles (Hawthorne), CA Employment Type: Internship Department: Engineering Travel: Occasional Application Type: Rolling / Ongoing ## About Starpath Starpath develops and manufactures the technologies that will enable humans to live on the Moon and Mars. Today, we are building robotic systems that locally produce the essential commodities a lunar civilization will require at extreme scale: water, power, and oxygen. Our ultimate goal is to build and operate a self-sustaining city on Mars. ## The Role We hire early-career engineers on a rolling basis throughout the year — both Interns (currently enrolled students) and Associates (recent graduates or Master's students). Applications are reviewed continuously; strong candidates are moved to screens as opportunities open across our teams. Whether you're joining us for a summer, a semester, or the start of your career, you'll work on real hardware alongside senior engineers, with real ownership from day one. We hire across all of Starpath's programs — space solar, lunar surface infrastructure, and manufacturing operations — and across mechanical, chemistry, materials, electrical, software, manufacturing, and test disciplines. When you apply, tell us which program and discipline best match your background and interests. ## Responsibilities - Own a scoped project as a contributing member of a discipline team — design, analysis, test, manufacturing, or process development - Ramp on Starpath's engineering process, tools, and technical stack under the mentorship of senior engineers - Contribute to design reviews, test campaigns, and manufacturing improvements - Present your work internally and, for interns, at the end of your internship - Take on progressively harder problems as you build depth - Ask hard questions and push back when something doesn't make sense Required Qualifications - For Interns: Currently enrolled in a Bachelor's or Master's program in engineering, chemistry, materials science, physics, computer science, or a related discipline. Must be a rising junior or senior at the time of the internship and returning to school at the end of the internship to continue academic studies for at least one quarter/semester - For Associates: Bachelor's or Master's degree in engineering, chemistry, materials science, physics, computer science, or a related discipline; 0-2 years of full-time experience (internships and academic research applicable) - Collegiate project team or laboratory experience (e.g., Formula SAE, Baja SAE, Aero Design, Rocketry / IREC / Spaceport America Cup, Solar Car, Robotics (FRC/VEX), CubeSat/small satellite teams, or comparable) - CAD skills (any platform) and ability to make high quality engineering drawings, or equivalent discipline-specific hands-on tool proficiency - Demonstrated hands-on fabrication, laboratory, or build skills - High competence with, and fluid use of, engineering first principles in your discipline - U.S. Person status is required, as this position needs to access export-controlled data ## Preferred Qualifications - Prior internship experience and/or leadership on a collegiate project team or research laboratory - Depth in a specific discipline through research, senior projects, or industry work - Experience with industry-standard tools in your discipline (e.g., NX/Teamcenter, SolidWorks, or Onshape for mechanical; FEA/CFD for analysis; wet chemistry and characterization for materials; embedded C for controls software) - Ability to integrate across disciplines — mechanical, electrical, software, or chemistry - Experience with machining, sheet metal, 3D printing, laser cutting, PCB assembly, or comparable fabrication skills - Coursework or research in areas relevant to space, chemistry, materials, robotics, or manufacturing ## Compensation & Benefits - Location: Los Angeles (Hawthorne), CA - Competitive salary, compensation scales with candidate experience and level (Intern or Associate) - Subsidized meals in-office ## EAR REQUIREMENTS: - To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. ## Equal Opportunity Starpath is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. ## About Starpath Robotics ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Starpath Robotics designs and manufactures robotic propellant production factories for the Moon and Mars, aiming to reduce the cost of deep-space transport and enable a self-sustaining human city on Mars. - **Entity Type**: Private (Seed stage) - **Headquarters**: Hawthorne, California, United States - **Founded**: 2022 - **Founders**: Saurav Shroff (CEO & Co-Founder), Mihir Gondhalekar (Co-Founder) ## Core Business - **Primary industry/industries**: Space Research and Technology, Air Transportation, Space Travel, Robotics - **Target customers**: B2B – space agencies (NASA), commercial space companies (e.g., Starship operators), satellite operators, and future Mars/Moon infrastructure developers. - **Mission or purpose statement**: “Building a self-sustaining city on Mars” by producing propellant and infrastructure in space. ## Products & Services - **Rover (R10)**: Autonomous lunar ice prospecting rover that excavates and delivers hundreds of kilograms of icy regolith. Built for NASA testing and future lunar operations. - **Refinery System**: Full-stack hardware system for producing and distributing propellant (oxygen, hydrogen, methane) from water ice on the Moon and Mars. - **Starlight Solar**: Space-rated solar panels that are 90% cheaper than traditional alternatives, with lead times of weeks instead of months. Available for purchase now. - **Starlight Air**: The world’s lightest space solar panel (announced March 2026). Engineered for high-efficiency power generation. - **Shadow Voyager**: Exploration vehicle designed for permanently shadowed regions at the Lunar South Pole. ## Market Standing - **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed - **Key Metric**: Total Funding – $12.0M (Seed round closed August 20, 2024) - **Notable Investors/Partners**: - Fusion Fund (lead investor in Seed round per LinkedIn) - 8VC and 10 other investors (per Crunchbase) - Contrary, Valhalla Ventures - NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (testing partnership) - Atomic-6 (development contract for deployable lunar boom) - **Growth Signals**: - Headcount grew 73.7% year-over-year to 28 employees (LinkedIn, 2026) - Successful thermal vacuum chamber testing at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (2025) - Launch of Starlight Air solar panels (2026) - Active hiring for technical roles including first Technical Recruiter ## Competitive Advantages - **Ex-SpaceX founding team**: Deep expertise in space hardware and propulsion. - **Full-stack approach**: Covers rover mining, propellant refinery, and solar power – a vertically integrated solution for in-situ resource utilization. - **NASA collaboration**: Early access to NASA’s test facilities (e.g., 20-ft thermal vacuum chamber) and credibility. - **Cost disruption**: Starlight solar panels claim 90% cost reduction vs. traditional space solar. - **First-mover on lunar ice**: Autonomous rover designed to establish the first American claim to lunar ice resources. ## Strategic Focus - **Lunar testbed**: Use the Moon as a proving ground for Mars propellant production technology, leveraging lunar water ice. - **City-scale infrastructure**: Scale from propellant production to energy grids, mining capacity, and life support for a self-sustaining Mars city. - **Revenue diversification**: Selling Starlight solar panels and rover services to generate near-term revenue while pursuing long-term Mars goals. - **Talent scaling**: Aggressively hiring to grow the engineering team (technical roles are 48% of workforce). ## Why Work Here - **Culture**: Startup environment with a bold mission (“build a city on Mars”). High ownership and fast iteration – interns are expected to do “whatever needs doing.” - **Growth**: Company growing rapidly (+73.7% YoY headcount); opportunities for early employees to take on significant responsibility. - **Technical depth**: Team includes alumni from SpaceX, Boston Dynamics, Anduril, Astrobotic – strong engineering culture. - **Work location**: Hawthorne, CA (HQ) with additional office in Burlingame, CA. Onsite presence expected (manufacturing and testing require hands-on work). - **Notable perks**: Not explicitly listed, but startup equity and the chance to work on hardware that goes to the Moon and Mars. - **Recent hiring signals**: Actively recruiting Technical Recruiter, software engineers, and rover engineers – indicating scaling phase. ## Sources 1. [starpath.space](https://www.starpath.space/) 2. [starpath.space/about](https://starpath.space/about/) 3. [crunchbase.com](https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/starpath-robotics) 4. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/starpathspace) ## Other roles at Starpath Robotics - [Chemical / Materials Engineer – Space Solar](https://feeny.ai/job/chemical-materials-engineer-space-solar-starpath-robotics-hawthorne-pjhey2tmt22v) — Hawthorne, CA - [CNC Machinist Setup & Operation – MILL](https://feeny.ai/job/cnc-machinist-setup-operation-mill-starpath-robotics-future-factory-z0f3k4xnmat8) — Future Factory - [CNC Machinist Setup & Operation – LATHE](https://feeny.ai/job/cnc-machinist-setup-operation-lathe-starpath-robotics-future-factory-fej8ssxcxj3d) — Future Factory - [Senior CNC Programmer & Prototype Machinist – MILL](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-cnc-programmer-prototype-machinist-mill-starpath-robotics-future-factory-0f5924ch61c5) — Future Factory - [Senior CNC Programmer & Prototype Machinist – LATHE](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-cnc-programmer-prototype-machinist-lathe-starpath-robotics-hawthorne-thk919345d3r) — Hawthorne, CA - [Lead Designer](https://feeny.ai/job/lead-designer-starpath-robotics-hawthorne-axk08ca5qr0j) — Hawthorne, CA - [Senior Flight Software Engineer - Embedded Linux](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-flight-software-engineer-embedded-linux-starpath-robotics-hawthorne-6s0rba5b8hd2) — Hawthorne, CA - [Senior Robotics Software Engineer – Lunar Rover Localization](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-robotics-software-engineer-lunar-rover-localization-starpath-robotics-sgmwr7nk47dk) — Hawthorne, CA - [Electrical Engineer - Space Solar](https://feeny.ai/job/electrical-engineer-space-solar-starpath-robotics-hawthorne-t4cv2by8p1mk) — Hawthorne, CA - [Senior Manufacturing Engineer - Space Solar](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-manufacturing-engineer-space-solar-starpath-robotics-hawthorne-sj1bj4s7wn0s) — Hawthorne, CA