Structures, thermal and mechanisms
Space Jobs for Mechanical Engineers
, SpaceJobs.Now lists 989 open roles for mechanical engineers on 98 space industry employers, including Muon Space, Array Labs and Anduril; typical pay across them is $122k to $230k a year (median $145k), topped by $328k a year advertised at Stoke Space.
Mechanical Engineer (opens the job details)
Elveo Mobile · Mechanical · Chantilly, VA, United States· 2mo agoDetails
Measured from 622 distinct posted rates, across 66 employers, each as a year's pay (an hourly rate × 2,080 hours). 366 of the 989 listings open here post no pay at all.
Space companies hire mechanical engineers to design the vehicle's structures, mechanisms and thermal systems, and the equipment that handles it on the ground. Each listing here is re-verified on the employer's own job board once an hour.
Live roles for mechanical engineers
Updated 30 Oct 2026, 16:03 UTCListed here: Elveo Mobile roles. See every employer
Mechanical design engineers
1 openDesign parts and assemblies in CAD, take them through drawings and production, and support them in test and flight.
Mechanical Engineer (opens the job details)
Elveo Mobile · Mechanical · Chantilly, VA, United States· 2mo agoDetails
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.
What the roles ask for
Drawn from the requirement lines of 323 out of 989 open roles for mechanical 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 experience271
- Name u.S. person status (ITAR or EAR)42
- Set a residency or work-authorization condition39
- Name a security clearance27
- Ask for a professional license15
- Name a PE license10
- Require programming (Python, C++, MATLAB and similar)4
Where a posting states years of experience, the median ask is 5 years.
Who hires mechanical 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 mechanical 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
- Airbus interviews and role tests. How to apply
- Interview
- Interview
- Assessment
- Thales interviews. How to apply
- Interview
- Interview
- Assessment
- The recruiter screening and team interviews. How to apply
- Interview
- Interview
- Assessment
- No general test published. How to apply
- Interview
- None published
- Assessment
- Lockheed Martin's interviews. How to apply
- Interview
- Interview
Where these roles are posted
The US states with the most open roles for mechanical 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.
In the US, by state
- California358
- Washington136
- Texas116
- Colorado86
- Florida79
- Alabama27
- Maryland20
- Arizona11
- Virginia10
Space industry jobs by US state
The public record, in every industry: 298,500 mechanical engineers work in the US (2025), projected to grow 11% by 2035, at a median $104k/yr (BLS, May 2025). Open space roles for mechanical engineers post a median $132k/yr, 26.8% 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 mechanical engineers earn in the space industry?
Going by the 622 distinct salaries currently posted for roles for mechanical engineers (each put on a full-time year), the typical range is $122k–$230k/yr and the median is $145k/yr. The top posted figure is $328k/yr, at Stoke Space. 366 of the 989 open roles for mechanical engineers state no pay, so check each listing.
Is a PE license required for space mechanical roles?
Rarely: most roles ask for a mechanical or aerospace degree and experience with the CAD and analysis tools they name. A PE license comes up mostly for facilities and pressure systems work. Every posting spells out its exact requirements and work site, so read each one. Of the 323 open roles for mechanical engineers whose requirements we read, 1 ask for a PhD, 8 a master's, 292 at least a bachelor's and 22 name no degree.
What does a mechanical engineer do at a space company?
A mechanical engineer at a space company designs hardware in CAD and proves it works: sizing structures and tanks for launch loads, keeping parts at temperature in vacuum, building the mechanisms that separate and deploy, and supporting each part through manufacturing and test.
How do space companies hire mechanical 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 mechanical 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 (Muon Space, Array Labs, Anduril and Outpost 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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Mechanical, Structures & Thermal
Every open mechanical role across space employers, with live pay.