Role directory
Every kind of work in the space industry.
A launch company employs welders, flight software engineers and buyers, and each is paid differently. Choose the work closest to your training for its pay and its employers, or browse by employer instead.
- 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
By kind of work
13 kinds of space industry work.
Open one for the day-to-day of the job, market-wide pay, and the employers recruiting for it with their current openings.
Manufacturing & Technicians
1,432 open now27 employers hire for it
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 $85k/yr. Measured from 595 distinct posted rates, across 26 employers, each as a year's pay (an hourly rate × 2,080 hours). 837 of the 1,432 listings open here post no pay at all.
Programs & Business
1,115 open now15 employers hire for it
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 588 distinct posted rates, across 34 employers, each as a year's pay (an hourly rate × 2,080 hours). 526 of the 1,115 listings open here post no pay at all.
Ground Software & IT
874 open now13 employers hire for 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 $160k/yr. Measured from 534 distinct posted rates, across 33 employers, each as a year's pay (an hourly rate × 2,080 hours). 338 of the 874 listings open here post no pay at all.
Mechanical, Structures & Thermal
772 open now19 employers hire for it
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 324 distinct posted rates, across 24 employers, each as a year's pay (an hourly rate × 2,080 hours). 448 of the 772 listings open here post no pay at all.
Supply Chain & Facilities
768 open now0 employers hire for it
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 355 distinct posted rates, across 27 employers, each as a year's pay (an hourly rate × 2,080 hours). 413 of the 768 listings open here post no pay at all.
Systems, Integration & Test
747 open now31 employers hire for it
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 359 distinct posted rates, across 30 employers, each as a year's pay (an hourly rate × 2,080 hours). 387 of the 747 listings open here post no pay at all.
Avionics & Electrical
552 open now34 employers hire for it
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 269 distinct posted rates, across 24 employers, each as a year's pay (an hourly rate × 2,080 hours). 283 of the 552 listings open here post no pay at all.
Quality & Mission Assurance
471 open now4 employers hire for it
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 217 distinct posted rates, across 19 employers, each as a year's pay (an hourly rate × 2,080 hours). 254 of the 471 listings open here post no pay at all.
Flight Software & GNC
373 open now13 employers hire for it
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 176 distinct posted rates, across 23 employers, each as a year's pay (an hourly rate × 2,080 hours). 194 of the 373 listings open here post no pay at all.
RF, Communications & Payloads
239 open now11 employers hire for it
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 $162k/yr. Measured from 146 distinct posted rates, across 20 employers, each as a year's pay (an hourly rate × 2,080 hours). 93 of the 239 listings open here post no pay at all.
Propulsion & Engines
227 open now13 employers hire for it
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 130 distinct posted rates, across 14 employers, each as a year's pay (an hourly rate × 2,080 hours). 97 of the 227 listings open here post no pay at all.
Launch & Mission Operations
214 open now23 employers hire for it
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 $130k/yr. Measured from 101 distinct posted rates, across 22 employers, each as a year's pay (an hourly rate × 2,080 hours). 113 of the 214 listings open here post no pay at all.
Science, Imaging & Earth Data
102 open now12 employers hire for it
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 $163k/yr. Measured from 68 distinct posted rates, across 14 employers, each as a year's pay (an hourly rate × 2,080 hours). 34 of the 102 listings open here post no pay at all.
New to the space industry? Start with the learning guides for a plain account of each kind of work and a first step into it. The pay comparison will be here when you return.
Keep exploring
Other ways into the space job market.
Sorting by kind of work is only one route. You can also start from the employers, from the pay figures, or from a beginner's guide.
Browse by employer
All 47 space employers the board tracks, with each one's pay, where it hires, and live open roles.
Explore employers →Compare the pay
Measured pay for each kind of work at each employer, and a calculator that estimates a figure from your own experience.
Open the pay explorer →New to this?
Plain-language guides to the kinds of work in the space industry: what each is, who it suits, and how to begin.
Start learning →