Space Jobs for Mission Operations Engineers

Listed here: Astranis roles. See every employer

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 130 out of 192 open roles for mission and launch operations 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 experience101
• Require programming (Python, C++, MATLAB and similar)28
• Name a security clearance25
• Name u.S. person status (ITAR or EAR)13
• Set a residency or work-authorization condition10
• Ask for a certification5

Where a posting states years of experience, the median ask is 4 years.

Who hires mission and launch operations engineers in the space industry

Employer	Open roles	Pay stated
Muon Space	3	$74.9k–$195k/yr
Turion Space	2	$150k–$225k/yr
Inversion Space	1	$161k–$221k/yr
Varda Space Industries	2	$140k–$179k/yr
Apex	4	$110k–$250k/yr
K2 Space	5	$62.4k–$210k/yr
Loft Orbital	5	$140k–$190k/yr
Northwood Space	2	$100k–$175k/yr
Starfish Space	1	$100k–$180k/yr
True Anomaly	4	Not stated
Firefly Aerospace	4	$145k–$175k/yr
Northrop Grumman	15	Not stated
Blue Origin	14	Not stated
Isar Aerospace	10	Not stated
Astroscale	3	Not stated
Axiom Space	2	Not stated
Boeing	2	Not stated
ICEYE	2	Not stated
The Exploration Company	2	Not stated
SpaceX	59	$47.8k–$275k/yr
Planet	4	$114k–$145k/yr
Spire Global	1	$130k/yr
Vantor	1	$74k–$98k/yr
AST SpaceMobile	5	Not stated
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory	2	$99.4k–$162k/yr
Relativity Space	8	$39.9k–$124k/yr
Vast	5	$84.5k–$151k/yr
Rocket Lab	20	$87k–$173k/yr
Astranis	4	$91.5k–$180k/yr

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.

Where these roles are posted

The US states with the most open roles for mission and launch operations 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.

What our research measures about launch & ops 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 hiring221 open roles (2.7% of the space roles we read) at 34 employers, 64 of them posted in the last 30 days.
• Where the jobs are10.4% of these roles are remote; the rest are on-site or hybrid.
• Who can apply78.1% of the postings are open only to US persons or US citizens, and 29.7% name a security clearance.
• Skills and toolsThe skills its postings name most: Python (43%), C or C++ (14%) and Linux (14%).
• Degrees and experience8.7% of the postings take a high school diploma or an associate's degree, 23.3% name a master's or PhD, and they ask for a median of 3 years of experience at the least.
• Pay transparency46.6% of the postings state their pay, at a median $130,000 a year.
• Internships and entry level10 open roles are for someone starting out (4.5% of its open roles).
• Shifts, weekends and travel22.8% of the postings ask for weekend work, 20.5% for overtime or extended hours, and 7.8% name an evening, night or rotating shift.