Space industry work
Flight Software & GNC
Measured from 395 distinct posted rates, across 59 employers, each as a year's pay (an hourly rate × 2,080 hours). 288 of the 686 listings open here post no pay at all.
Live flight software roles
Updated 30 Oct 2026, 11:02 UTC
Dream Chaser Flight Operations – Flight Dynamics (Sr Systems Engineer) (opens the job details)
Sierra Space · Louisville, CO, United States· todayDetails
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.
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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 $143k–$270k/yr and the median $169k/yr, both taken from rates printed on postings that are live today. 68 employers hire for it, including Anduril, Umbra, Cowboy Space.
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.
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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.
- What applications askThe application forms for this work ask your citizenship or U.S. person status (87.4% of them), about a security clearance (44.5% of them), your GPA (24.4% of them), SAT, ACT or GRE scores (23.6% of them), your salary expectations (30.7% of them) and whether you have worked or interviewed at the company before (36.2% of them).
From the forum
Ask the people doing Flight Software work what only they can tell you.