Pay explorer
What does a space industry job pay? The full map
The honest answer: it depends on the work, the employer and your experience. Here is the whole map, from the pay each employer's open roles state.
, the SpaceJobs.Now board shows 8,048 open space industry roles, and typical pay among them is $100k to $230k a year (median $132k).
- Muon Space
- Hubble Network
- Outpost
- Turion Space
- Momentus
- Inversion Space
- Xona Space Systems
- Quindar
- Albedo
- Varda Space Industries
- K2 Space
- Apex
- Loft Orbital
- Stoke Space
- Epsilon3
- Slingshot Aerospace
- BlackSky
- Northwood Space
- Starfish Space
- True Anomaly
- Firefly Aerospace
- Astroscale
- Axiom Space
- Blue Origin
- Boeing
- Dawn Aerospace
- ICEYE
- Isar Aerospace
- Kepler Communications
- Northrop Grumman
- RTX
- The Exploration Company
- SpaceX
- Planet
- Spire Global
- Vantor
- AST SpaceMobile
- HawkEye 360
- Loft Federal
- Voyager Technologies
- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
- Ursa Major
- Relativity Space
- Terran Orbital
- Vast
- Rocket Lab
- Astranis
Sorted by the expected value of an application (acceptance odds times posted pay). Employers with a referral agreement get a boost in this order, which has no effect on the salary they offer.
- Propulsion & Engines
- Mechanical, Structures & Thermal
- Avionics & Electrical
- RF, Communications & Payloads
- Flight Software & GNC
- Ground Software & IT
- Systems, Integration & Test
- Manufacturing & Technicians
- Launch & Mission Operations
- Quality & Mission Assurance
- Science, Imaging & Earth Data
- Supply Chain & Facilities
- Programs & Business
“Typical” means the 25th percentile of what roles pay (the middle of each posted range, as a year's pay: an hourly rate counts at 2,080 hours, 40 a week for 52 weeks) to the 90th-percentile posted top. It is measured from 3,942 separate posted rates from 36 employers, out of the 8,048 roles open now, best-paid roles included. The lowest posted rate is $4.16k/yr and the highest is $600k/yr: both are genuine postings, and the method keeps either one from pulling the figure. Each type of work and each employer below gets the same treatment, measured only from the roles it has open. Live figures refresh every hour; other figures are drawn from public sources and tagged with where each one comes from. Data refreshed 29 Oct 2026. How we compile pay. Which work pays best, how wide the pay gap runs and what share of roles post a rate: those findings are written up in the Space Industry Pay Report. There is also the highest-paying employers ranked. To turn these rates into your own number, use the salary calculator.
By type of work
13 kinds of space industry work.
Start from what you already do. Every kind of work opens a page on the employers hiring for it and the rates they post.
Coming to the space industry from another field? Start with the learning guides: they explain what the work involves from one day to the next, who it suits and how people get started. Then come back to weigh the pay.
Manufacturing & Technicians
Build the hardware with your hands and run the lines that make it: assembly, integration and test technicians, machinists and CNC programmers, welders, composites and additive manufacturing, electrical and harness technicians, and the manufacturing engineers who design the process. Many of these roles are hourly and open to people without a degree.
Live median $85.5k/yr. Measured from 596 distinct posted rates, across 26 employers, each as a year's pay (an hourly rate × 2,080 hours). 838 of the 1,434 listings open here post no pay at all.
Programs & Business
Run the company and its missions: program and project management, scheduling and program control, business development and sales of launches, satellites and data, finance and accounting, contracts, legal and export control, people and recruiting, and communications..
Live median $140k/yr. Measured from 605 distinct posted rates, across 34 employers, each as a year's pay (an hourly rate × 2,080 hours). 532 of the 1,138 listings open here post no pay at all.
Ground Software & IT
Build the software on the ground: mission and ground-segment software, data platforms, web and backend engineering, cloud and DevOps, IT and cybersecurity, and the factory and business systems a space company runs on..
Live median $160k/yr. Measured from 540 distinct posted rates, across 33 employers, each as a year's pay (an hourly rate × 2,080 hours). 341 of the 883 listings open here post no pay at all.
Mechanical, Structures & Thermal
Design and analyze the physical vehicle: primary structures and tanks, mechanisms and deployables, thermal control, materials and processes, loads and stress analysis, aerodynamics and reentry, and the ground support equipment that fuels and handles a vehicle on the pad..
Live median $132k/yr. Measured from 331 distinct posted rates, across 25 employers, each as a year's pay (an hourly rate × 2,080 hours). 451 of the 782 listings open here post no pay at all.
Supply Chain & Facilities
Keep the factory and the launch site supplied and running: procurement and buying, supplier management, planning and inventory, logistics, shipping and receiving, warehouses, and the facilities, maintenance and site security of plants, test sites and launch pads..
Live median $110k/yr. Measured from 358 distinct posted rates, across 27 employers, each as a year's pay (an hourly rate × 2,080 hours). 414 of the 772 listings open here post no pay at all.
Systems, Integration & Test
Tie the vehicle together and prove it works: systems engineering and architecture, requirements and verification, assembly, integration and test (AI&T), environmental testing in thermal vacuum and vibration, and test engineering for whole vehicles and their subsystems..
Live median $133k/yr. Measured from 356 distinct posted rates, across 31 employers, each as a year's pay (an hourly rate × 2,080 hours). 396 of the 753 listings open here post no pay at all.
Avionics & Electrical
Build the electrical heart of a rocket or satellite: flight computers and avionics boxes, power systems and batteries, harnesses, circuit boards, FPGAs and ASICs, and the electronics that must survive launch loads, vacuum and radiation..
Live median $150k/yr. Measured from 268 distinct posted rates, across 24 employers, each as a year's pay (an hourly rate × 2,080 hours). 282 of the 550 listings open here post no pay at all.
Quality & Mission Assurance
Make sure the hardware is right before it flies: quality engineering and inspection, mission and product assurance, reliability, nondestructive testing, supplier quality, and environment, health and safety on sites that handle propellants and high-energy systems..
Live median $113k/yr. Measured from 218 distinct posted rates, across 19 employers, each as a year's pay (an hourly rate × 2,080 hours). 254 of the 472 listings open here post no pay at all.
Flight Software & GNC
Write the software that flies the vehicle and steer it: flight and embedded software, firmware, guidance, navigation and control, flight dynamics and orbit determination, and the autonomy that lets a spacecraft rendezvous, land or reenter on its own..
Live median $160k/yr. Measured from 174 distinct posted rates, across 23 employers, each as a year's pay (an hourly rate × 2,080 hours). 192 of the 369 listings open here post no pay at all.
RF, Communications & Payloads
Make spacecraft talk and sense: RF and antenna design, phased arrays, signal processing and modems, optical and laser communication terminals, and the payloads a satellite carries, from broadband and direct-to-phone links to radar and imaging instruments..
Live median $162k/yr. Measured from 147 distinct posted rates, across 20 employers, each as a year's pay (an hourly rate × 2,080 hours). 92 of the 239 listings open here post no pay at all.
Propulsion & Engines
Design, build and test the engines that move rockets and spacecraft: liquid rocket engines and their turbomachinery, combustion devices and injectors, solid rocket motors, in-space thrusters and electric propulsion, and the fluids and cryogenic systems that feed them. Much of it happens on a test stand, firing hardware and reading the data.
Live median $132k/yr. Measured from 130 distinct posted rates, across 14 employers, each as a year's pay (an hourly rate × 2,080 hours). 96 of the 226 listings open here post no pay at all.
Launch & Mission Operations
Get vehicles off the ground and keep them flying: launch site and pad operations, launch control and range, recovery of reusable stages, mission operations and flight control, satellite and constellation operations, and ground station operations around the clock..
Live median $130k/yr. Measured from 103 distinct posted rates, across 22 employers, each as a year's pay (an hourly rate × 2,080 hours). 113 of the 216 listings open here post no pay at all.
Science, Imaging & Earth Data
Turn what spacecraft see into knowledge: remote sensing and Earth observation, synthetic aperture radar and optical imaging, geospatial and intelligence analysis, data science and machine learning on satellite data, and the scientists who design missions and instruments..
Live median $160k/yr. Measured from 73 distinct posted rates, across 14 employers, each as a year's pay (an hourly rate × 2,080 hours). 34 of the 107 listings open here post no pay at all.
Estimate your pay
An indication drawn from compiled ranges. It is not an offer: each employer sets pay role by role.
Rough estimate
$123k–$260k/yrDrawn from 268 distinct posted rates
Median $150k/yr. Measured from 268 distinct posted rates, across 24 employers, each as a year's pay (an hourly rate × 2,080 hours). 282 of the 550 listings open here post no pay at all. The entry figure above sits in the lower half of this range and the expert figure in the upper half.
Pay by employer
Rows tagged Live from feed give the typical pay (the 25th percentile of what roles pay (the middle of each posted range, as a year's pay: an hourly rate counts at 2,080 hours, 40 a week for 52 weeks) to the 90th-percentile posted top) of that employer’s own open roles, as of 2026-10-29, and clicking one lists those roles by pay. The feed is reread hourly. The rest of the figures are researched rate cards built from public sources; each employer’s pages show the day its card was last checked (currently between 29 Oct 2026 and 29 Oct 2026; how we research them).
Sorting by highest pay puts the 36 employers whose live boards post rates first, ordered by what their typical role earns, the same order the pay ranking uses. Employers that post no pay have nothing to rank, so they come after. Sorted by the expected value of an application (acceptance odds times posted pay). Employers with a referral agreement get a boost in this order, which has no effect on the salary they offer.
A few of our links carry a referral code. When one leads to a hire, the employer may pay us a fee; you pay nothing, and the salary on offer stays the same.