Pay explorer
What do space industry jobs actually pay?
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.
, SpaceJobs.Now lists 7,632 open space industry roles; their typical pay runs $100k to $230k a year, with a median of $133k.
- Muon Space
- Hubble Network
- Outpost
- Turion Space
- Momentus
- Inversion Space
- Xona Space Systems
- Albedo
- Varda Space Industries
- K2 Space
- Apex
- Loft Orbital
- Quindar
- Stoke Space
- Epsilon3
- Slingshot Aerospace
- Northwood Space
- BlackSky
- Firefly Aerospace
- Astroscale
- Axiom Space
- Blue Origin
- Boeing
- Dawn Aerospace
- ICEYE
- Isar Aerospace
- Kepler Communications
- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
- Northrop Grumman
- RTX
- Terran Orbital
- The Exploration Company
- Vantor
- True Anomaly
- Starfish Space
- Planet
- SpaceX
- Spire Global
- AST SpaceMobile
- HawkEye 360
- Loft Federal
- Voyager Technologies
- Ursa Major
- Relativity Space
- Vast
- Rocket Lab
- Astranis
Ordered by what applying is worth, lifted by a referral boost for the employers that pay us a referral fee; it never changes what an employer pays you.
- 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” runs from 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, measured from 3,705 distinct advertised rates across 33 employers, drawn from the 7,632 roles open now, so it includes the best-paid roles. Advertised rates run from $4.16k/yr to $600k/yr; both are real but neither skews the number. Every kind of work and employer below is measured the same way, from its own open roles. Live figures update every hour; other figures are compiled from public sources, each labeled by how we know it. Data last refreshed 29 Oct 2026. How we compile pay. For the findings written up as a report (highest-paying work, the pay gap, what share of roles publish a rate), read the Space Industry Pay Report, or see 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.
Pick the work that fits your background. Each links to a full breakdown of who hires for it and what they pay.
New to the space industry? Start with the learning guides to understand what each kind of work actually involves, who it is for, and how to begin, then come back here to compare 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 $84.5k/yr. Measured from 582 distinct posted rates, across 23 employers, each as a year's pay (an hourly rate × 2,080 hours). 829 of the 1,412 open roles here state no pay.
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 550 distinct posted rates, across 31 employers, each as a year's pay (an hourly rate × 2,080 hours). 503 of the 1,054 open roles here state no pay.
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 $162k/yr. Measured from 507 distinct posted rates, across 29 employers, each as a year's pay (an hourly rate × 2,080 hours). 317 of the 825 open roles here state no pay.
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 320 distinct posted rates, across 22 employers, each as a year's pay (an hourly rate × 2,080 hours). 443 of the 763 open roles here state no pay.
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 343 distinct posted rates, across 24 employers, each as a year's pay (an hourly rate × 2,080 hours). 410 of the 753 open roles here state no pay.
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 $132k/yr. Measured from 335 distinct posted rates, across 27 employers, each as a year's pay (an hourly rate × 2,080 hours). 338 of the 674 open roles here state no pay.
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 262 distinct posted rates, across 23 employers, each as a year's pay (an hourly rate × 2,080 hours). 281 of the 543 open roles here state no pay.
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 206 distinct posted rates, across 17 employers, each as a year's pay (an hourly rate × 2,080 hours). 245 of the 451 open roles here state no pay.
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 167 distinct posted rates, across 20 employers, each as a year's pay (an hourly rate × 2,080 hours). 177 of the 347 open roles here state no pay.
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 $163k/yr. Measured from 137 distinct posted rates, across 17 employers, each as a year's pay (an hourly rate × 2,080 hours). 97 of the 234 open roles here state no pay.
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 128 distinct posted rates, across 13 employers, each as a year's pay (an hourly rate × 2,080 hours). 95 of the 223 open roles here state no pay.
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 $134k/yr. Measured from 100 distinct posted rates, across 21 employers, each as a year's pay (an hourly rate × 2,080 hours). 91 of the 191 open roles here state no pay.
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 $178k/yr. Measured from 36 distinct posted rates, across 12 employers, each as a year's pay (an hourly rate × 2,080 hours). 26 of the 62 open roles here state no pay.
Estimate your pay
A rough guide based on compiled ranges, not a quote. Real pay is set per role.
Rough estimate
$67.9k–$185k/hrAnchored on 343 distinct advertised rates
Median $110k/yr. Measured from 343 distinct posted rates, across 24 employers, each as a year's pay (an hourly rate × 2,080 hours). 410 of the 753 open roles here state no pay. Entry and expert figures above are the lower and upper half of this range.
Pay by employer
Rows marked Live from feed show 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) measured from that employer’s open roles, as of 2026-10-29, and open them by pay. They refresh every hour. Every other figure is an employer’s researched rate card, compiled from public sources and dated on its employer’s pages by the day it was last checked (today from 29 Oct 2026 to 29 Oct 2026; how we research them).
Highest pay ranks the 33 employers whose live boards state pay by what a typical role there pays, as the pay ranking does. The others state no pay to rank and follow them. Ordered by what applying is worth, lifted by a referral boost for the employers that pay us a referral fee; it never changes what an employer pays you.
Some links on this site are referral links. If you sign up through one, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. It never changes what an employer pays you.