Key findings
- 3
In space software postings, Python led (64.2%), ahead of C or C++ (42%). The two halves differ: Flight Software postings named C or C++ most (81.8%), Software & IT postings Python (63.8%).
- 4
What each line of work asks for differs: Manufacturing & Technicians postings named GD&T (ASME Y14.5) most (23%), Programs & Business postings named Excel most (21%), Ground Software & IT postings named Python most (64%) and Mechanical, Structures & Thermal postings named Finite element analysis most (46%).
Figure 1
The skills and tools space postings name
Which tools, languages and standards do space employers write into their job postings?
| Skill or tool | Share of postings naming it | Postings |
|---|---|---|
| Python | 29.0% | 2,327 |
| C or C++ | 12.6% | 1,015 |
| GD&T (ASME Y14.5) | 10.7% | 862 |
| MATLAB | 9.7% | 781 |
| Excel | 9.6% | 774 |
| SAP or another ERP | 9.5% | 762 |
| Linux | 8.5% | 683 |
| SQL | 8.5% | 682 |
| Siemens NX | 7.5% | 605 |
| Lean or Six Sigma | 7.1% | 572 |
| Finite element analysis | 6.5% | 523 |
| Ansys | 6.0% | 479 |
| Jira | 5.6% | 446 |
| AWS, Azure or Google Cloud | 5.5% | 441 |
| Docker or Kubernetes | 5.4% | 433 |
| AS9100 | 5.2% | 421 |
| Git | 4.9% | 391 |
| FPGA design | 4.4% | 355 |
| SolidWorks | 4.0% | 318 |
| CNC machining | 3.9% | 312 |
| Creo | 3.7% | 298 |
| JavaScript, TypeScript or React | 3.2% | 258 |
| Teamcenter | 3.1% | 249 |
| Altium | 3.0% | 241 |
| NASTRAN or Femap | 2.9% | 230 |
| Rust | 2.6% | 212 |
| Java | 2.4% | 196 |
| IPC soldering standards (J-STD-001, IPC-A-610) | 2.4% | 195 |
| AutoCAD | 2.3% | 187 |
| Simulink | 2.1% | 171 |
| LabVIEW | 1.9% | 156 |
| CATIA | 1.7% | 138 |
| DOORS or Jama | 1.7% | 135 |
| Computational fluid dynamics | 1.5% | 121 |
| Thermal Desktop or SINDA | 1.5% | 121 |
| HFSS, CST or ADS | 1.5% | 118 |
| MBSE, SysML or Cameo | 1.4% | 114 |
| VHDL or Verilog | 1.3% | 108 |
| STK (Systems Tool Kit) | 1.2% | 98 |
| NASA workmanship standards (NASA-STD-8739) | 1.1% | 89 |
| Abaqus | 1.0% | 80 |
| SPICE simulation | 0.8% | 62 |
| Aerospace welding certification (AWS D17.1) | 0.6% | 52 |
| Cadence, OrCAD or Allegro | 0.6% | 47 |
Sample. 8,033 roles open on 29 Oct 2026 whose full posting text this site stores (98.6% of the 8,150 open roles).
A posting names a skill when its text matches the skill's pattern (listed in the method below), once however often it repeats it. Required and preferred skills count alike.
A tool family counts as one skill: "NASTRAN or Femap" is a posting naming either.
Source. SpaceJobs.Now Research, The Skills and Tools Space Employers Ask For, read 29 Oct 2026.
Figure 2
Which kinds of work ask for which skills
If you want to work in propulsion, avionics or flight software, which tools should you know?
| Skill or tool | Technicians | Programs & Business | Software & IT | Mechanical | Supply Chain | Systems & Test | Avionics | Quality | Flight Software | RF & Payloads | Propulsion | Launch & Ops | Science & Data |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Python | 8% | 9% | 64% | 20% | 3% | 55% | 42% | 12% | 65% | 60% | 37% | 43% | 71% |
| C or C++ | 1% | 0% | 25% | 3% | 0% | 20% | 21% | 4% | 82% | 33% | 6% | 14% | 27% |
| GD&T (ASME Y14.5) | 23% | 0% | 0% | 36% | 3% | 4% | 3% | 20% | 0% | 0% | 35% | 1% | 0% |
| MATLAB | 1% | 0% | 1% | 18% | 0% | 25% | 15% | 3% | 24% | 47% | 28% | 13% | 15% |
| Excel | 11% | 21% | 1% | 3% | 24% | 4% | 1% | 20% | 0% | 0% | 1% | 6% | 3% |
| SAP or another ERP | 13% | 13% | 7% | 1% | 32% | 5% | 1% | 13% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 2% | 0% |
| Linux | 1% | 1% | 34% | 1% | 0% | 11% | 6% | 1% | 38% | 15% | 0% | 14% | 10% |
| SQL | 6% | 12% | 23% | 0% | 17% | 4% | 2% | 9% | 2% | 2% | 1% | 4% | 18% |
| Siemens NX | 10% | 0% | 2% | 31% | 2% | 7% | 6% | 2% | 0% | 1% | 32% | 2% | 0% |
| Lean or Six Sigma | 19% | 4% | 0% | 1% | 14% | 2% | 0% | 23% | 0% | 0% | 1% | 2% | 0% |
| Finite element analysis | 3% | 0% | 1% | 46% | 1% | 3% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 25% | 1% | 0% |
| Ansys | 2% | 0% | 1% | 38% | 0% | 2% | 4% | 3% | 0% | 11% | 32% | 0% | 0% |
| Jira | 4% | 8% | 7% | 2% | 3% | 10% | 3% | 4% | 12% | 6% | 2% | 7% | 2% |
| AWS, Azure or Google Cloud | 3% | 1% | 32% | 2% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 7% | 3% | 0% | 0% | 1% | 16% |
| Docker or Kubernetes | 0% | 0% | 39% | 0% | 0% | 4% | 0% | 0% | 9% | 0% | 0% | 3% | 8% |
Sample. The 15 most named skills, as a share of each kind of work's postings read on 29 Oct 2026; 8,033 postings across 13 kinds of work.
Each cell is the share of that kind of work's postings naming the skill. Read a column top to bottom for what one line of work asks for.
Source. SpaceJobs.Now Research, The Skills and Tools Space Employers Ask For, read 29 Oct 2026.
Figure 3
Which CAD tool space employers name
Siemens NX, CATIA, SolidWorks or Creo: which design tool does the space industry use?
| CAD tool | Share of postings naming a CAD tool | Postings | Employers naming it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Siemens NX | 56.9% | 605 | 25 |
| SolidWorks | 29.9% | 318 | 29 |
| Creo | 28.0% | 298 | 16 |
| AutoCAD | 17.6% | 187 | 18 |
| CATIA | 13.0% | 138 | 19 |
Sample. 1,064 of the 8,033 postings read on 29 Oct 2026 name at least one CAD tool; a posting naming two counts for both, so the shares add to more than 100%.
Rows with fewer than 9.4 postings are marked as a small sample and not ranked: below that the average of the rows weighs more than a row's own postings (the weight fitted on the rows' own counts).
Source. SpaceJobs.Now Research, The Skills and Tools Space Employers Ask For, read 29 Oct 2026.
Figure 4
The programming languages space software postings name
Python, C++ or Rust: what do space software teams write?
| Language | Share of software postings | Flight Software | Software & IT |
|---|---|---|---|
| Python | 64.2% | 65.0% | 63.8% |
| C or C++ | 42.0% | 81.8% | 25.3% |
| JavaScript, TypeScript or React | 17.2% | 1.9% | 23.5% |
| Rust | 12.7% | 22.0% | 8.8% |
| Java | 12.7% | 1.4% | 17.4% |
| MATLAB | 8.1% | 24.1% | 1.5% |
Sample. 1,253 postings in flight software and GNC and in ground software and IT, read on 29 Oct 2026.
A posting naming several languages counts for each.
Source. SpaceJobs.Now Research, The Skills and Tools Space Employers Ask For, read 29 Oct 2026.
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Method and definitions
The full text of every open posting this site stores from space employers' public job boards, matched against a published list of skill patterns once a day. Every figure is computed by one database query over the window shown, the same query for the live report and for every edition. Each figure states its sample beneath it.
- Names a skill
- The posting's text matches the skill's pattern (listed in the method), counted once per posting. Required and preferred skills count alike.
- Skill family
- Tools that do the same job under different names count as one skill: "NASTRAN or Femap", "Cadence, OrCAD or Allegro", "DOORS or Jama".
- Software postings
- The postings in flight software and GNC and in ground software and IT, the two kinds of work whose roles are mostly software.
What this data cannot tell you
- A posting that leaves a tool out may still use it: postings name what an employer thought to write, which favors tools that screen candidates.
- Short or ambiguous names are matched with care ("NX" only beside other CAD words, "Rust" only as a word on its own), which can miss some postings that name them.
- Boards this site reads as listings only (no posting text) are outside every figure.
How the job feeds are read and roles are classified: site methodology. How fresh, complete and consistent the data is, checked every day: data quality and coverage.
Editions
This report reads the live job boards every day. Each complete month is also published as an edition, frozen two days after the month ends, so a figure you cite from an edition never moves.
- Live data (this page)Today's boards, read daily
Cite and reuse
Free to quote, chart and republish under CC BY 4.0 with a link to this page. Live figures change daily: cite a monthly edition for numbers that will read the same later, or keep the access date.
Citation
SpaceJobs.Now (2026). The Skills and Tools Space Employers Ask For (live data, 2 Oct 2026 to 29 Oct 2026). https://spacejobs.now/research/skills-space-employers-ask-for (accessed 30 Oct 2026)
BibTeX
@misc{spacejobsnow_skills_space_employers_ask_for_live,
author = {{SpaceJobs.Now}},
title = {The Skills and Tools Space Employers Ask For (live data, 2 Oct 2026 to 29 Oct 2026)},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {\url{https://spacejobs.now/research/skills-space-employers-ask-for}},
note = {Accessed 30 Oct 2026},
}More research
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