October 2026 to date in space industry hiring
The space industry job market in figures, counted from the employer job boards we read every day, as recorded up to 29 Oct 2026. The month is still running: these figures are to date and are updated each day.
The market, 1 to 29 Oct 2026
- Open roles on 29 Oct 2026
- 7,631
- Employers hiring
- 41
- Roles opened, 1 to 29 Oct 2026
- Not counted yet: every employer is in its first week in our records, whose roles were already up when we began reading its board
- Roles closed, 1 to 29 Oct 2026
- 4
- Employers new to our records
- 41, with 7,635 roles open
Who added and who cut
New to our records this month: SpaceX (2,269), Blue Origin (1,442), Rocket Lab (486) and 38 others. Their roles were already up when we began reading their boards, so they are not counted as opened.
Posted pay by kind of work, 29 Oct 2026
- Propulsion & Engines239 open roles; median $132k/yr, typical $104k–$206k/yr (137 rates from 13 employers)
- Mechanical, Structures & Thermal749 open roles; median $132k/yr, typical $111k–$220k/yr (318 rates from 22 employers)
- Avionics & Electrical563 open roles; median $145k/yr, typical $116k–$242k/yr (267 rates from 23 employers)
- RF, Communications & Payloads214 open roles; median $155k/yr, typical $130k–$248k/yr (127 rates from 17 employers)
- Flight Software & GNC347 open roles; median $160k/yr, typical $135k–$235k/yr (157 rates from 19 employers)
- Ground Software & IT815 open roles; median $162k/yr, typical $135k–$265k/yr (514 rates from 29 employers)
- Systems, Integration & Test609 open roles; median $133k/yr, typical $109k–$240k/yr (291 rates from 26 employers)
- Manufacturing & Technicians1,378 open roles; median $83.2k/yr, typical $61.4k–$167k/yr (577 rates from 23 employers)
- Launch & Mission Operations190 open roles; median $135k/yr, typical $107k–$216k/yr (100 rates from 20 employers)
- Quality & Mission Assurance456 open roles; median $120k/yr, typical $86.3k–$204k/yr (217 rates from 17 employers)
- Science, Imaging & Earth Data54 open roles; median $178k/yr, typical $153k–$230k/yr (32 rates from 11 employers)
- Supply Chain & Facilities692 open roles; median $110k/yr, typical $69.8k–$185k/yr (314 rates from 25 employers)
- Programs & Business980 open roles; median $140k/yr, typical $110k–$235k/yr (505 rates from 31 employers)
Every role behind these figures, with its pay, place and the days it went up and came down, comes as files in the Hiring radar.
Method
How we count: open roles and employers hiring are the job board's count as recorded at that day's read of every employer board we follow. A role is opened on the day we first record it, except in an employer's first week in our records, and closed on the day it was last listed. Pay is the posted pay of the roles listed on 29 Oct 2026: the median, and the typical band from the 25th percentile of what roles pay (the middle of each posted range, as a year's pay: an hourly rate counts at 2,080 hours, 40 a week for 52 weeks) to the 90th-percentile posted top, stated only from 3 distinct posted rates. Pay is not compared with the month before: our record of each role's pay changes does not reach back to 30 Sep 2026.
Figures to date, computed 29 Oct 2026, 12:50 UTC. They are updated each day until the month is over, then published and frozen.
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