Vehicles and spacecraft
Space Jobs for Aerospace Engineers
, SpaceJobs.Now lists 30 open roles for aerospace engineers on 11 space industry employers, including Outpost, Inversion Space and Varda Space Industries; their typical pay runs $142k to $225k a year, with a median of $165k, and the highest advertised rate is $230k a year at Ursa Major.
Measured from 11 distinct posted rates, across 6 employers, each as a year's pay (an hourly rate × 2,080 hours). 19 of the 30 open roles here state no pay.
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. Every role is checked against its employer's job board every hour.
Live roles for aerospace engineers
Updated 29 Oct 2026, 14:01 UTCShowing the Firefly Aerospace roles. See every employer
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Aerodynamics, aerothermal and reentry
1 openHow a vehicle flies through the atmosphere and comes back through it: aerodynamics, heating, hypersonics and reentry, by analysis, simulation and test.
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
Each specialty's typical pay is measured over its own open roles the way every band on this site is (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), and shown only where at least three distinct rates are posted.
| Specialty | Open roles | Typical pay | Highest rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aerodynamics, aerothermal and reentry | 14 | $164k–$227k/yr | $230k/yr |
| Vehicle and spacecraft design | 1 | Too few rates | Not stated |
| Aerospace engineers | 15 | $87.9k–$180k/yr | $199k/yr |
What the roles ask for
Read from the requirements of 2 of the 30 open roles for aerospace engineers: the lines each role's pop-up lists from its posting. A role counts once, at the lowest degree it accepts.
The roles that name experience ask for a median of 5 years.
Who hires aerospace engineers in the space industry
| Employer | Open roles | Pay stated |
|---|---|---|
 Outpost | 1 | $170k–$225k/yr |
 Inversion Space | 4 | $137k–$221k/yr |
 Varda Space Industries | 3 | $120k–$179k/yr |
 Firefly Aerospace | 1 | Not stated |
 Blue Origin | 11 | Not stated |
 Axiom Space | 1 | Not stated |
 SpaceX | 2 | Not stated |
 Voyager Technologies | 3 | $97k–$199k/yr |
 Ursa Major | 1 | $175k–$230k/yr |
 Vast | 1 | $72.8k/yr |
 Rocket Lab | 2 | Not stated |
Ordered by what applying is worth, lifted by a referral boost for the employers that pay us a referral fee; it never changes what an employer pays you.
Where these roles are posted
Roles an employer posts for one country, and roles whose title names a language. Each place opens its own page; each count opens these roles.
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Frequently asked questions
How much do aerospace engineers earn in the space industry?
Across the 11 distinct hourly rates posted for roles for aerospace engineers right now, typical pay runs from $142000 to $225000 an hour, with a median of $165000. The highest posted rate is $230000 an hour, at Ursa Major. 19 of the 30 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. Each listing states what it requires and where it is based. Of the 2 open roles for aerospace engineers whose requirements we read, 1 a bachelor's or a degree and 1 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.
Are these jobs real?
Every role here is read from a space employer's own careers page or job board (Outpost, Inversion Space, Varda Space Industries and Firefly Aerospace 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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