Space Jobs for Materials Engineers

Showing the 77 roles that name years of experience, every country. See every role

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.

What the roles ask for

Drawn from the requirement lines of 98 out of 147 open roles for materials engineers and chemists, 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 experience77
• Name u.S. person status (ITAR or EAR)13
• Set a residency or work-authorization condition13
• Name a security clearance10
• Ask for a professional license1
• Ask for a certification1

Where a posting states years of experience, the median ask is 5 years.

Who hires materials engineers and chemists in the space industry

Employer	Open roles	Pay stated
Anduril	1	$147k–$196k/yr
Turion Space	1	$150k–$200k/yr
E-Space	2	$140k–$190k/yr
Stoke Space	1	$129k–$252k/yr
Inversion Space	2	$137k–$244k/yr
Apex	4	$121k–$225k/yr
Xona Space Systems	1	$173k–$197k/yr
Trinzic	1	Not stated
Viasat	1	$142k–$224k/yr
Blue Origin	27	$81.3k–$203k/yr
Voyager Technologies	2	$56.2k–$105k/yr
Sierra Space	3	$77.2k–$230k/yr
Relativity Space	9	$90k–$226k/yr
Vast	2	$86.1k–$230k/yr
Firefly Aerospace	1	Not stated
ArianeGroup	11	Not stated
The Aerospace Corporation	3	Not stated
Axiom Space	3	Not stated
European Space Agency (ESA)	1	Not stated
HyImpulse	1	Not stated
OHB	1	Not stated
Thales Alenia Space	1	Not stated
The Exploration Company	1	Not stated
Intuitive Machines	1	Not stated
SpaceX	39	$100k–$220k/yr
L3Harris	4	$68k–$165k/yr
AST SpaceMobile	1	Not stated
Lockheed Martin	9	$65.5k–$178k/yr
United Launch Alliance	4	$48k–$166k/yr
Northrop Grumman	3	$83.4k–$184k/yr
Virgin Galactic	1	$161k–$245k/yr
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)	1	$119k–$143k/yr
Amentum	4	Not stated

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.

Materials Engineer or Chemist salary by employer

What each employer's own postings pay materials engineers and chemists, by level and by site, with every role and its posted pay.

• SpaceX Materials Engineer or Chemist salarymedian $130k/yr, 39 open roles
• Blue Origin Materials Engineer or Chemist salarymedian $126k/yr, 27 open roles

How each employer checks you

For every employer currently hiring materials engineers and chemists: 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.

Blue Origin27 open

Assessment

No general test published. How to apply

Interview

None published

European Space Agency (ESA)1 open

Assessment

ESA's pre-screening and panel interview. How to apply

Interview

Interview

Credentials

You complete a basic medical screening for the ESA Medical Officer and a basic background screening run by an external party; in a second stage ESA contacts your referees and verifies your diploma. Source

Thales Alenia Space1 open

Assessment

Thales interviews. How to apply

Interview

Interview

Lockheed Martin9 open

Assessment

Lockheed Martin's interviews. How to apply

Interview

Interview

Northrop Grumman3 open

Assessment

The recruiter screening and team interviews. How to apply

Interview

Interview

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)1 open

Assessment

No general test published. How to apply

Interview

None published

Where these roles are posted

The US states with the most open roles for materials engineers and chemists, 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.

What our research measures about mechanical work

Read from the open postings on 2026-10-30 by our space industry research, rebuilt every day. Every figure opens the row of the report it comes from.

• Who is hiring1,412 open roles (8.9% of the space roles we read) at 109 employers, 518 of them posted in the last 30 days.
• Where the jobs are0.8% of these roles are remote; the rest are on-site or hybrid.
• Who can apply69.0% of the postings are open only to US persons or US citizens, and 26.2% name a security clearance.
• Skills and toolsThe skills its postings name most: Finite element analysis (41%), GD&T (ASME Y14.5) (33%) and Siemens NX (27%).
• Degrees and experience1.6% of the postings take a high school diploma or an associate's degree, 34.1% name a master's or PhD, and they ask for a median of 5 years of experience at the least.
• Pay transparency61.5% of the postings state their pay, at a median $147,000 a year.
• Internships and entry level160 open roles are for someone starting out (11.3% of its open roles).
• Shifts, weekends and travel12.5% of the postings ask for weekend work, 13.8% for overtime or extended hours, and 0.6% name an evening, night or rotating shift.
• What applications askThe application forms for this work ask your citizenship or U.S. person status (86.0% of them), about a security clearance (38.5% of them), your GPA (21.1% of them), SAT, ACT or GRE scores (19.2% of them), your salary expectations (26.9% of them) and whether you have worked or interviewed at the company before (31.3% of them).