CEOs behind the world’s hottest companies agree on one thing: Among the most valuable skills in today’s labor market are engineers and skilled tradespeople who can build the infrastructure needed for the artificial intelligence boom.
According to Pew Research, the U.S. is already home to more than 3,000 operational data centers, and more than 1,500 are currently in development. Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is contributing to that figure, but he’s also shopping for facilities “off Earth.”
The richest man in the world is now on the hunt for skilled individuals to join the team at rocket and satellite company SpaceX, in roles which will build out data centers both on Earth and—potentially—on other planets.
His criteria is simple: He wants the most exceptional talent from trade backgrounds, such as plumbers and electricians, as well as engineering.
Writing on X, the social media platform he owns, Musk shared: “SpaceX is hiring exceptional engineering and skilled trades talent to build and operate the most powerful AI supercomputer clusters on and off Earth.”
It is unclear whether these new SpaceX employees may be required to work in space or on other planets as part of their roles.
But SpaceX has been clear that its mission is to make humanity “multi-planetary” and build a self-sustaining city on Mars. Indeed, Musk’s incentives at the company are directly linked to SpaceX’s success in building out infrastructure on other planets. SpaceX’s prospectus, shared ahead of the company’s IPO on June 12, stated that 1 billion Class B shares could be vested by Musk upon the “establishment of a permanent human colony on Mars with at least one million inhabitants.”
Shares granted to Musk can also be vested upon data center milestones, the prospectus adds, specifically upon the “completion of non-Earth-based data centers capable of delivering 100 terawatts of compute per year.”
If the bar doesn’t sound too high, then the application process is simple. Musk invites applicants to email their resume, along with three bullet points “demonstrating evidence of exceptional ability” to datacenters@spacex.com.
SpaceX is hiring exceptional engineering & skilled trades talent to build & operate the most powerful AI supercomputer clusters on & off Earth.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 1, 2026
If interested, please email 3 bullet points demonstrating evidence of exceptional ability & your resume to datacenters@spacex.com.
Musk’s recent announcement is evidence of a phenomenon fellow Magnificent 7 CEO, Jensen Huang, has highlighted.
The entrepreneur said the AI buildout (in Huang’s case, he is referring to infrastructure on Earth) will create lots of jobs, adding: “It’s wonderful that the jobs are related to tradecraft, and we’re going to have plumbers and electricians and construction and steelworkers.” During the conversation with BlackRock CEO Larry Fink at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January, Huang added that staff should be able to make a “great living” and “you don’t need to have a PhD in computer science to do so.”
Future of SpaceX work
The S-1 filing for SpaceX suggests some of its future work is almost certainly impossible from Earth.
For example, “establishing a lunar economy” is listed as a growth strategy for SpaceX in the near future, including manufacturing and energy production on the moon, as well as cargo transport between the bases.
Future markets identified in the prospectus also include energy production on Mars, space tourism, and point-to-point terrestrial travel. Asteroid mining is also mentioned as a potential opportunity, which would entail extracting metals and other critical resources from near-Earth and main-belt asteroids. SpaceX adds that this activity could provide “abundant raw materials for space-based industries and reducing the need to launch mass from Earth.”
Not everyone is so convinced either by SpaceX’s ultimate mission or whether it will manage to get there: At the time of writing, SpaceX shares are trading at $108 each, $27 below its IPO offering price.
For now, every role advertised on the SpaceX website has a location set to somewhere here on Earth. However, if the company’s ambitions are realized at the speed Musk has indicated (he envisions a million people living on Mars by 2050, for example), then today’s hires will likely be tasked with helping build infrastructure not only on Earth, but also for permanent residences further afield.
