Vehicles and spacecraft
Space Jobs for Aerospace Engineers
, SpaceJobs.Now lists 68 open roles for aerospace engineers on 25 space industry employers, including Outpost, Amazon Leo and Inversion Space; typical pay across them is $133k to $226k a year (median $162k), topped by $269k a year advertised at Virgin Galactic.
Blue Origin · Systems & Test · Greater Seattle Area· 2w agoDetails
$90,934–$127,307.25/yr
Measured from 39 distinct posted rates, across 16 employers, each as a year's pay (an hourly rate × 2,080 hours). 28 of the 68 listings open here post no pay at all.
Space companies hire aerospace engineers to design and analyze launch vehicles, spacecraft and landers, and to work out how they fly, heat up and come home. Each listing here is re-verified on the employer's own job board once an hour.
Live roles for aerospace engineers
Updated 30 Oct 2026, 23:03 UTCShowing the 17 roles that name a security clearance, every country. See every role
Aerodynamics, aerothermal and reentry
6 openHow a vehicle flies through the atmosphere and comes back through it: aerodynamics, heating, hypersonics and reentry, by analysis, simulation and test.
Aerodynamics and Flight Mechanics Engineer II (opens the job details)
Varda Space Industries · Mechanical · El Segundo, California, United States· 4w agoDetails
$119,543–$152,749/yr
Staff Aerothermal CFD Methods Engineer (opens the job details)
Inversion Space · Mechanical · Playa Vista, California, United States· 2mo agoDetails
$161,000–$221,000/yrSenior Aerodynamics and Flight Mechanics Engineer (opens the job details)
Varda Space Industries · Mechanical · El Segundo, California, United States· 4w agoDetails
$140,333–$179,314/yr2026 Aerodynamic Environments Engineer (opens the job details)
The Aerospace Corporation · Mechanical · El Segundo, CA· 2mo agoDetails
Senior Aerodynamics Engineer (opens the job details)
Inversion Space · Mechanical · Playa Vista, California, United States· 2mo agoDetails
$137,000–$193,000/yrSenior Aerothermal Engineer (opens the job details)
Inversion Space · Mechanical · Playa Vista, California, United States· 2mo agoDetails
$137,000–$193,000/yr
Aerospace engineers
11 openAerospace engineering roles across launch, spacecraft and space services companies.
Blue Origin · Systems & Test · Greater Seattle Area· 2w agoDetails
$90,934–$127,307.25/yrBlue Origin · Systems & Test · Denver, CO· 2w agoDetails
$110,938–$155,312.85/yr
Mission Analysis Engineer – Aerospace Systems (TS/SCI) (opens the job details)
Vantor · Systems & Test · Herndon, VA, United States of America· 2mo agoDetails
Sr. Mission Analysis Engineer – Aerospace Systems (TS/SCI) (opens the job details)
Vantor · Systems & Test · Herndon, VA, United States of America· 2mo agoDetails
$140,000–$187,000/yrAerospace Modeling & Simulation Engineer II (opens the job details)
Vantor · Systems & Test · Herndon, VA, United States of America· 2mo agoDetails
Systems Engineer - Aerospace (opens the job details)
Voyager Technologies · Systems & Test · Remote· 1mo agoDetails
$103,000–$220,000/yrSr. Aerospace Modeling & Simulation Engineer (opens the job details)
Vantor · Systems & Test · Herndon, VA, United States of America· 2mo agoDetails
$140,000–$187,000/yr
Show 1 more aerospace roles
Mechanical Engineer - Aerospace (opens the job details)
Voyager Technologies · Mechanical · Remote· 1mo agoDetails
$97,000–$199,000/yr
Before you apply
Space hardware is built, tested and flown in person, so many roles name a factory, a test site, a launch site or a control room, and each listing states its location. US roles that touch export-controlled technology (ITAR or EAR) can ask that you be a U.S. person, and some ask for a security clearance. A real employer never charges you to apply, never interviews you only by chat app and never asks you to buy equipment.
Pay by specialty
Every specialty gets its typical band from its own open roles, computed by the same method as the rest of the site (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). A specialty is listed once three or more distinct rates have been posted.
| Specialty | Open roles | Typical pay | Highest rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aerodynamics, aerothermal and reentry | 26 | $154k–$228k/yr | $269k/yr |
| Vehicle and spacecraft design | 2 | Too few rates | $184k/yr |
| Aerospace engineers | 40 | $114k–$220k/yr | $257k/yr |
What the roles ask for
Drawn from the requirement lines of 35 out of 68 open roles for aerospace engineers, the same lines each role's pop-up quotes from its posting. Each role is counted once, at the lowest degree it will accept.
- Name years of experience24
- Name a security clearance17
- Name u.S. person status (ITAR or EAR)3
- Require programming (Python, C++, MATLAB and similar)3
- Set a residency or work-authorization condition2
Where a posting states years of experience, the median ask is 5 years.
Who hires aerospace engineers in the space industry
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.
How each employer checks you
For every employer currently hiring aerospace engineers: its process as its own hiring guide describes it, each line with its source. The complete steps sit on that employer's page. 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.
- Assessment
- Amazon's interview loop. How to apply
- Interview
- Interview
- Assessment
- No general test published. How to apply
- Interview
- None published
- Assessment
- Booz Allen's technical assessment and interviews. How to apply
- Interview
- Interview
- Assessment
- Airbus interviews and role tests. How to apply
- Interview
- Interview
- Assessment
- Thales interviews. How to apply
- Interview
- Interview
- Assessment
- Lockheed Martin's interviews. How to apply
- Interview
- Interview
- Assessment
- The recruiter screening and team interviews. How to apply
- Interview
- Interview
Where these roles are posted
The US states with the most open roles for aerospace engineers, and the roles posted for a single country. A place name leads to its own page, and a country's count lists the matching roles.
Students and recent graduates: 8 open space internships for aerospace engineers.
In the US, by state
Space industry jobs by US state
The public record, in every industry: 68,700 aerospace engineers work in the US (2025), projected to grow 8% by 2035, at a median $135k/yr (BLS, May 2025). Open space roles for aerospace engineers post a median $164k/yr, 21.5% above it (pay research). Each state's page gives its own.
What our research measures about mechanical 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 hiring793 open roles (9.7% of the space roles we read) at 37 employers, 154 of them posted in the last 30 days.
- Where the jobs are4.9% of these roles are remote; the rest are on-site or hybrid.
- Who can apply78.6% of the postings are open only to US persons or US citizens, and 13.7% name a security clearance.
- Skills and toolsThe skills its postings name most: Finite element analysis (46%), Ansys (38%) and GD&T (ASME Y14.5) (36%).
- Degrees and experience1.3% of the postings take a high school diploma or an associate's degree, 32.9% name a master's or PhD, and they ask for a median of 5 years of experience at the least.
- Pay transparency42.1% of the postings state their pay, at a median $132,000 a year.
- Internships and entry level77 open roles are for someone starting out (9.7% of its open roles).
- Shifts, weekends and travel19.4% of the postings ask for weekend work, 15.3% for overtime or extended hours, and 0.9% name an evening, night or rotating shift.
- What applications askThe application forms for this work ask your citizenship or U.S. person status (88.8% of them), about a security clearance (42.4% of them), your GPA (26.8% of them), SAT, ACT or GRE scores (24.3% of them), your salary expectations (31.4% of them) and whether you have worked or interviewed at the company before (36.5% of them).
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Frequently asked questions
How much do aerospace engineers earn in the space industry?
Going by the 39 distinct salaries currently posted for roles for aerospace engineers (each put on a full-time year), the typical range is $133k–$226k/yr and the median is $162k/yr. The top posted figure is $269k/yr, at Virgin Galactic. 28 of the 68 open roles for aerospace engineers state no pay, so check each listing.
Do I need an aerospace engineering degree?
An aerospace degree is common, but many roles take mechanical engineering or physics too, and ask instead for the analysis tools or hardware experience the work needs. Every posting spells out its exact requirements and work site, so read each one. Of the 35 open roles for aerospace engineers whose requirements we read, 1 ask for a PhD, 2 a master's, 30 at least a bachelor's and 2 name no degree.
What does an aerospace engineer do at a space company?
An aerospace engineer at a space company works on how a vehicle is shaped, how it flies and how it survives: aerodynamics and reentry heating, vehicle design and performance, and the analysis and tests that prove a design before it flies.
How do space companies hire aerospace engineers?
Each employer runs its own hiring, and each listing says what it asks for: the degree or the hands-on experience, the location, and for export-controlled work in the US, often U.S. person status. Of the employers hiring aerospace engineers now, none publishes a recorded interview or an ID check in the guides we hold. The section on how each employer checks you quotes each guide with its source.
Are these jobs real?
Every role here is read from a space employer's own careers page or job board (Outpost, Amazon Leo, Inversion Space and Varda Space Industries among them), and each employer's page here covers who they are and how they hire. A real employer never charges you to apply, never asks you to buy equipment and never interviews you only by chat app.
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Space jobs by profession
Every profession space companies hire, with live counts and pay.
Mechanical, Structures & Thermal
Every open mechanical role across space employers, with live pay.