I worked at the Space and Missile Systems Center in Los Angeles in 2006. SpaceX is just down the road. That whole area (El Segundo / Redondo Beach) is full of satellite manufacturers -- Lockheed, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon.
They all shamelessly poach systems engineers from the Air Force. Most aeronautics/astronautics majors, but a good number of EEs, too.