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.”
