From UCLA Student Clubs to SpaceX: How One Electrical Engineer Launched Her Career

Sarah Wilen ’23, M.S. ’24 chose to study engineering at UCLA because she wanted to build a strong technical foundation for addressing business needs. But her entrepreneurial spark was ignited long before she set foot in Westwood.

In high school, Wilen answered a Nextdoor advertisement to help an elderly neighbor sell clothing and furniture online. That experience led her to launch her own reselling business on Poshmark, where she upcycled thrift store finds and hired local teens to help with photography and listings.

“I loved anticipating customer needs and creating value from overlooked items,” she said.

Meanwhile, an introductory engineering course at her school exposed her to the excitement of new discoveries. Watching SpaceX’s 2018 Falcon Heavy launch, which demonstrated the potential of reusable spaceflight, she was struck by how breakthroughs like this often stay unnoticed until applied to real-world challenges. Wilen was inspired by engineering’s intersection of creativity, business and problem-solving, and those early experiences planted the seed for her to study engineering at UCLA with an entrepreneurial perspective.

For Wilen, extracurriculars proved particularly influential. Bruin Entrepreneurs, a student-run organization that hosts speaker events, hackathons and startup incubators, helped her refine leadership and communication skills. Surrounded by peers launching impactful ventures such as Duffl and Empower Health, Wilen saw that entrepreneurship was accessible. 

Inspired, Wilen built a project that bridged data science with entrepreneurship. The idea stemmed from her realizing that student clubs often spend countless hours cold-emailing companies for sponsorships with little response. She wanted to build a platform to connect student clubs with corporate sponsors more efficiently. Using web-scraping tools, she created a system to categorize clubs by marketing intent and match them with aligned companies, eventually expanding the project from UCLA to 40 universities nationwide. In her senior year, Wilen served as president of Bruin Entrepreneurs, honing her ability to communicate complex ideas and lead collaborative projects, skills she now uses daily at SpaceX.

As a member of Bruin Racing, Wilen unexpectedly joined the wheels and steering subteam after missing an introductory meeting for the electrical team. The experience forced her to quickly learn computer-aided design and machining, exposing her to mechanical engineering perspectives and teaching her the value of questioning assumptions through design reviews. 

Together, the two clubs taught Wilen to balance technical depth with entrepreneurial breadth and later helped Wilen land her first position at SpaceX. A team lead discovered her on LinkedIn, likely because of her work in Bruin Racing. For Wilen, project-based clubs exemplify resilience and collaboration under pressure — the same qualities she now looks for when reviewing intern resumes.

After earning her bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in 2023, Wilen chose to stay at UCLA to pursue a master’s in electrical engineering with a certificate in data science through the school’s top-ranked Master of Science in Engineering Online program. An undergraduate data science elective course had influenced her sponsorship-matching project, and with new technologies like generative AI and large language models on the horizon, she wanted to deepen her knowledge.

“Goals are important, but if you only chase the ‘next thing,’ you’ll never feel satisfied,” said Sarah Wilen. “Enjoy the process, even the tough parts.”

“Undergraduate coursework gave me a taste of many areas in electrical engineering — signal processing, circuits, data science, electromagnetic interference — but only at the surface level,” Wilen said. “The master’s program allowed me to focus more deeply.”

Balancing research, internships and coursework was never simple, but she said those experiences taught her to prioritize experiences over grades. 

“Spending three extra hours cramming for an extra 1% on a test wasn’t as valuable as spending those hours machining a part at 4 a.m. with my Bruin Racing teammates,” she said. 

Looking back, it’s those shared experiences that stand out most vividly. Her advice to UCLA students is to join project-based clubs, experiment widely and connect authentically with peers and alumni. She urges students not to obsess over grades or treat life as a checklist. 

“Goals are important, but if you only chase the ‘next thing,’ you’ll never feel satisfied,” she said. “Enjoy the process, even the tough parts.” 

Today, Wilen is an Avionics Test Engineer II at SpaceX, a role she started while completing her master’s degree in 2024. Avionics encompasses the rocket’s electronic systems, from engine controllers to flight computers. Wilen designs and refines manufacturing and testing processes to ensure reliability, safety and scalability. She works on projects that are both software-focused, such as building test systems for new products, and operational, like streamlining environmental test requirements to save time without sacrificing safety. 

“We also serve as first responders to production issues,” she said. “For example, if a channel on a unit behaves abnormally, we work with engineering peers to decide: Should we scrap the unit — throwing away potentially thousands of dollars, rework it or assess whether it can still be safely flown? Each decision balances cost, risk and mission success.”

What she enjoys most, she says, is the variety. 

“Each engineer ‘owns’ an avionics product like a mini-CEO,” she explained. The role spans hardware design, software troubleshooting and cross-team coordination. 

Wilen is focused on growing at the systems level, building her skills in root-cause analysis and leadership. She has begun mentoring new hires and interns, viewing it as a way to pass along lessons learned while preparing for her own future transition into leading multidisciplinary teams.

Looking ahead, Wilen says she hopes to grow into a leadership role at SpaceX while staying open to entrepreneurial opportunities. She’s particularly interested in positions that combine engineering, production and strategy. Above all, she aims to use her career to accelerate technological progress while creating opportunities for others — just as her UCLA mentors and peers once did for her.