Key findings
- 3
373 postings named an evening, night or rotating shift, most often in Manufacturing & Technicians (15.4% of its postings); they posted a median $67,300 a year.
Figure 1
How space job postings say the work is scheduled
How many space jobs ask for weekends, overtime, shifts, on-call duty or travel?
| The posting states | Share of postings | Postings | Median posted pay a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weekend work | 32.2% | 2,585 | $130,000 |
| Overtime or extended hours | 31.6% | 2,542 | $130,000 |
| A share of time traveling | 16.5% | 1,323 | $133,000 |
| An evening, night or rotating shift | 4.6% | 373 | $67,300 |
| On-call duty | 2.8% | 222 | $150,000 |
| A compressed week (9/80, 4x10, 12-hour shifts) | 0.9% | 76 | $77,900 |
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 counts under every term it states, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Only the posting's words about the work count: a three-day weekend offered as a benefit is not weekend work, and a template line left in brackets states nothing.
Median pay is the board's median of the distinct pay figures the postings state, as a year's pay; it needs 3 distinct figures.
Source. SpaceJobs.Now Research, Shifts, Weekends, Overtime and Travel: How Space Jobs Are Scheduled, read 29 Oct 2026.
Figure 2
Weekends, shifts, overtime and travel, by kind of work
Which lines of space work ask for weekends, shifts and travel?
| Kind of work | Weekend work | Evening, night or rotating shift | Overtime or extended hours | Postings read |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Supply Chain & Facilities | 53.1% | 8.1% | 51.2% | 780 |
| Quality & Mission Assurance | 43.9% | 8.1% | 42.6% | 469 |
| Manufacturing & Technicians | 42.0% | 15.4% | 48.4% | 1,431 |
| Ground Software & IT | 37.2% | 0.3% | 35.5% | 884 |
| RF, Communications & Payloads | 33.5% | 0.0% | 33.9% | 242 |
| Programs & Business | 28.8% | 0.5% | 25.9% | 1,145 |
| Avionics & Electrical | 28.3% | 0.2% | 25.0% | 555 |
| Launch & Mission Operations | 22.8% | 7.8% | 20.5% | 219 |
| Systems, Integration & Test | 20.2% | 2.2% | 18.9% | 756 |
| Mechanical, Structures & Thermal | 19.4% | 0.9% | 15.3% | 782 |
| Flight Software & GNC | 16.8% | 0.0% | 17.1% | 369 |
| Propulsion & Engines | 12.3% | 0.4% | 8.8% | 227 |
| Science, Imaging & Earth Data | 4.4% | 0.0% | 4.4% | 113 |
Sample. 8,033 roles open on 29 Oct 2026 whose full posting text this site stores (98.6% of the 8,150 open roles).
Each share is of the kind's own postings read.
Source. SpaceJobs.Now Research, Shifts, Weekends, Overtime and Travel: How Space Jobs Are Scheduled, read 29 Oct 2026.
Figure 4
Weekends, shifts, overtime and travel, employer by employer
Which space companies ask for weekend work and overtime?
Sample. 8,033 roles open on 29 Oct 2026 whose full posting text this site stores (98.6% of the 8,150 open roles).
No row with any postings is a small sample: the rows differ so much that each reads on its own from its first.
Source. SpaceJobs.Now Research, Shifts, Weekends, Overtime and Travel: How Space Jobs Are Scheduled, read 29 Oct 2026.
For space companies, investors and researchers
Buy the data behind this report
The figures above are a summary. Behind them are records we collect ourselves, every day:
roles tracked, each with its history
Every role on the job boards we read every hour: its pay and place, and the first and last day it was open.
apply clicks, counted
Which roles people actually apply to, by field, pay and kind of work. It happens on this site, so nobody else can count it.
What you can buy
The records
The rows behind any figure, with their history, not only the totals.
A regular feed
The same figures every week or month, as files.
A custom cut or benchmark
Your countries, languages or fields, or your own company against the market.
Hiring at a space company and need the people behind these roles? (you hire them yourself).
Investing in space companies? Hiring radar is these records role by role, every day, as files.
Method and definitions
The full text of every open posting this site stores from space employers' public job boards, read once a day for what it says about shifts, weekends, overtime, on-call duty and travel. 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.
- Weekend work
- The posting says the work includes weekends or asks the person to be available for them ("willing to work extended hours and weekends as needed"); a long weekend offered as a benefit does not count.
- Evening, night or rotating shift
- The posting names a second, third, night, swing, overnight, evening, weekend or rotating shift.
- Compressed week
- A 9/80 schedule, four 10-hour days, a four-day week or 12-hour shifts.
- Share of time traveling
- The highest share of the time the posting says the role travels ("travel up to 25%" counts at 25%).
What this data cannot tell you
- A posting that says nothing about weekends or travel is not a promise of neither; many leave the schedule to the interview.
- "As needed" and "occasional" are read as stated: the report counts what a posting asks for, not how often it happens.
- 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). Shifts, Weekends, Overtime and Travel: How Space Jobs Are Scheduled (live data, 2 Oct 2026 to 29 Oct 2026). https://spacejobs.now/research/space-jobs-shifts-weekends-and-travel (accessed 30 Oct 2026)
BibTeX
@misc{spacejobsnow_space_jobs_shifts_weekends_and_travel_live,
author = {{SpaceJobs.Now}},
title = {Shifts, Weekends, Overtime and Travel: How Space Jobs Are Scheduled (live data, 2 Oct 2026 to 29 Oct 2026)},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {\url{https://spacejobs.now/research/space-jobs-shifts-weekends-and-travel}},
note = {Accessed 30 Oct 2026},
}More research
- Who Can Apply to Space Jobs: US Citizenship, Export Control and Security ClearancesHow many space industry jobs are open only to US citizens or US persons, and how many ask for a security clearance?Read the report
- Which Space Companies Post Salaries: Pay Transparency in Space Job PostingsWhich space employers state the pay in their job postings, in which US states, for which kinds of work, and how wide are the ranges?Read the report
- Who Is Hiring in Space: Open Roles by Employer and Kind of WorkWhich space companies have the most open roles, for which kinds of work, how concentrated is the hiring, and how recently were the roles posted?Read the report
- Where the Space Jobs Are: Open Roles by Country, US State and CityWhich countries, US states and cities have the most open space industry jobs, what do they pay, and how much of the work is remote?Read the report
- The Skills and Tools Space Employers Ask ForWhich programming languages, CAD and analysis tools, electronics tools and standards do space industry job postings name?Read the report
- Do You Need a Degree for a Space Job? Degrees and Experience in Space PostingsHow many space industry jobs are open without a four-year degree, how many want a graduate degree, and how many years of experience do they ask?Read the report
- The State of Space Industry PayHow much does each kind of space work pay, and which employers post the most?Read the report