Space Jobs for Propulsion Engineers in the San Francisco Area

Today, Astra (4 roles), Astranis (4 roles), Benchmark Space Systems (2 roles). The table above lists every employer with a role open in the San Francisco area.

Most are in Alameda (4), San Francisco (4), Pleasanton (2), as the postings name their sites. A role that names several sites counts at each.

The roles here that state pay post a median $140k/yr, with typical pay from $60.3k–$196k/yr; 91.8% of California's postings state their pay at all, which our research on where space jobs are compares state by state. California's law has required employers with 15 or more employees to state a pay range in job postings since 1 Jan 2023 (each state's law beside its postings). For reference, the 510 aerospace engineers working in the San Francisco area, in any industry, earn a median $191k/yr (BLS, May 2025). The space roles for propulsion engineers here post a median $140k/yr today, 26.8% below that; our research on levels and pay sets every profession and area side by side, once a day.

Of the 4,856 space postings in California whose text we read, 76.4% are limited to US citizens or US persons and 35.6% name a security clearance, by our research on who can apply, which compares every state. Each posting states its own rule, often citing export control under ITAR or the EAR.

We read each employer's own job board every hour. A role is listed here when it is a US role and its own location line names a place in the San Francisco area (the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA metropolitan statistical area as the Census Bureau draws it: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco and San Mateo counties), by the same reading as our research on where space jobs are, and its title names the profession by the same rule as the page for propulsion engineers; remote roles that name no state are on the remote jobs page.