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Space jobs by metro area

Space Jobs in the Santa Maria Area

108 open roles at 14 space companies name a site in the Santa Maria area, most of them in Vandenberg and Goleta; typical pay runs $86.9k–$187k/yr. Listed straight from each employer's careers site, checked every hour.

Browse the rolesThe Santa Maria area in the research on where space jobs are →Every space job in California →Every metro area →

What the space companies do in the Santa Maria area

Space companies hiring in the Santa Maria area

EmployerOpen roles hereMedian posted pay
SpaceX31$108k/yr
Amentum23$92.5k/yr
Northrop Grumman14$110k/yr
Redwire10$156k/yr
RTX10$110k/yr
Lockheed Martin5$116k/yr
Booz Allen Hamilton4$127k/yr
L3Harris3$132k/yr
CACI2too few figures
Terran Orbital2too few figures
Firefly Aerospace1too few figures
Teledyne1too few figures
United Launch Alliance1too few figures
US Space Force1too few figures

Where the roles are

Kinds of work

Cleared roles in the Santa Maria area

Professions hiring in the Santa Maria area

Open space jobs in the Santa Maria area, newest first

Updated 31 Oct 2026, 07:01 UTC

The 100 newest of 108; each employer's page above lists all of its roles.

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What people ask about space work in the Santa Maria area

Which space companies are hiring in the Santa Maria area?

Today, SpaceX (31 roles), Amentum (23 roles), Northrop Grumman (14 roles), Redwire (10 roles), RTX (10 roles), Lockheed Martin (5 roles), and 8 more. The table above lists every employer with a role open in the Santa Maria area.

Where in the Santa Maria area are the space jobs?

Most are in Vandenberg (74), Goleta (28), Lompoc (3), Santa Maria (3), as the postings name their sites. A role that names several sites counts at each.

How much do space jobs in the Santa Maria area pay?

The roles here that state pay post a median $110k/yr, with typical pay from $86.9k–$187k/yr; 91.8% of California's postings state their pay at all, which our research on where space jobs are compares state by state. California's law has required employers with 15 or more employees to state a pay range in job postings since 1 Jan 2023 (each state's law beside its postings). For reference, the 100 aerospace engineers working in the Santa Maria area, in any industry, earn a median $131k/yr (BLS, May 2025).

Do space jobs in the Santa Maria area require US citizenship?

Of the 4,856 space postings in California whose text we read, 76.4% are limited to US citizens or US persons and 35.6% name a security clearance, by our research on who can apply, which compares every state. Each posting states its own rule, often citing export control under ITAR or the EAR.

How is this list made?

We read each employer's own job board every hour. A role is listed here when it is a US role and its own location line names a place in the Santa Maria area (the Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA metropolitan statistical area as the Census Bureau draws it: Santa Barbara County), by the same reading as our research on where space jobs are; remote roles that name no state are on the remote jobs page.