Space industry work
Flight Software & GNC
Measured from 174 distinct posted rates, across 23 employers, each as a year's pay (an hourly rate × 2,080 hours). 203 of the 380 listings open here post no pay at all.
Live flight software roles
Updated 30 Oct 2026, 00:01 UTC
Senior Guidance Navigation and Control (GNC) Engineer (opens the job details)
Boeing · USA - Berkeley, MO· today
Experienced/Senior Guidance Navigation and Control (GNC) Engineer (opens the job details)
Boeing · USA - Berkeley, MO· today
Embedded Software Engineer – Level 3 or 4 (opens the job details)
Northrop Grumman · United States-Virginia-Dulles· today
Guidance & Control Engineer (Associate or Experienced) (opens the job details)
Boeing · USA - Saint Charles, MO· today
Senior Guidance Nav & Control Engineer (Navigation Sys/Inertial Sensor) (opens the job details)
Boeing · USA - El Segundo, CA· today
Boeing · USA - El Segundo, CA· today
Flight Software Engineers (Associate / Experienced / Senior) (opens the job details)
Boeing · USA - El Segundo, CA· today
GNC Engineer (opens the job details)
Turion Space · Irvine, CA, United States· todayDetails
$125,000–$175,000/yr
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.
Flight Software alerts
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In short
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. The usual range is $135k–$236k/yr and the median $160k/yr, both taken from rates printed on postings that are live today. 13 employers hire for it, including Inversion Space, Xona Space Systems, Varda Space Industries.
Who hires for flight software work
Sorted by the expected value of an application (acceptance odds times posted pay). A referral agreement, if an employer has one, can raise it in this order but never changes the salary it offers.
Our grading rules for pay figures
Weighing employers against each other? Line up flight software pay at each employer using the pay explorer.
Experienced in Flight Software & GNC?
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What our research measures about flight software work
Read from the open postings on 2026-10-29 by our space industry research, rebuilt every day. Every figure opens the row of the report it comes from.
- Who is hiring378 open roles (4.6% of the space roles we read) at 34 employers, 66 of them posted in the last 30 days.
- Where the jobs are5.8% of these roles are remote; the rest are on-site or hybrid.
- Who can apply82.9% of the postings are open only to US persons or US citizens, and 29.8% name a security clearance.
- Skills and toolsThe skills its postings name most: C or C++ (82%), Python (65%) and Linux (38%).
- Degrees and experience0.0% of the postings take a high school diploma or an associate's degree, 41.7% name a master's or PhD, and they ask for a median of 5 years of experience at the least.
- Pay transparency46.0% of the postings state their pay, at a median $160,000 a year.
- Internships and entry level37 open roles are for someone starting out (9.8% of its open roles).
- Shifts, weekends and travel16.8% of the postings ask for weekend work, 17.1% for overtime or extended hours.
From the forum
Ask the people doing Flight Software work what only they can tell you.