Quality and mission assurance
Space Jobs for Quality Engineers
, SpaceJobs.Now lists 937 open roles for quality engineers and inspectors on 97 space industry employers, including Muon Space, Anduril and Umbra; typical pay across them is $90.3k to $221k a year (median $128k), topped by $328k a year advertised at Stoke Space.
GPU System Reliability Engineer Lead (opens the job details)
Cowboy Space · Quality · San Carlos, California· 1mo agoDetails
$150,000–$225,000/yrOptical Engineer, Test & Metrology (opens the job details)
Cowboy Space · Systems & Test · San Carlos, California· 2w agoDetails
$145,000–$175,000/yr
Measured from 532 distinct posted rates, across 60 employers, each as a year's pay (an hourly rate × 2,080 hours). 363 of the 937 listings open here post no pay at all.
Space companies hire quality engineers and inspectors to make sure every part is right before it flies, from the supplier's dock to the launch pad. Each listing here is re-verified on the employer's own job board once an hour.
Live roles for quality engineers and inspectors
Updated 31 Oct 2026, 18:02 UTCListed here: Cowboy Space roles. See every employer
Inspection, metrology and NDT
1 openInspect and measure hardware, and test it without breaking it (NDT).
Optical Engineer, Test & Metrology (opens the job details)
Cowboy Space · Systems & Test · San Carlos, California· 2w agoDetails
$145,000–$175,000/yr
Mission assurance, reliability and safety
1 openReliability analysis, mission and product assurance, and safety engineering for flight hardware and the sites that build it.
GPU System Reliability Engineer Lead (opens the job details)
Cowboy Space · Quality · San Carlos, California· 1mo agoDetails
$150,000–$225,000/yr
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 324 out of 937 open roles for quality engineers and inspectors, 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 experience246
- Ask for a certification37
- Name u.S. person status (ITAR or EAR)29
- Set a residency or work-authorization condition24
- Require programming (Python, C++, MATLAB and similar)13
- Name nDT Level II or III12
- Ask for a professional license5
- Name an ASQ certification1
Where a posting states years of experience, the median ask is 5 years.
Who hires quality engineers and inspectors 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.
Quality Engineer or Inspector salary by employer
What each employer's own postings pay quality engineers and inspectors, by level and by site, with every role and its posted pay.
- SpaceX Quality Engineer or Inspector salarymedian $135k/yr, 194 open roles
- Lockheed Martin Quality Engineer or Inspector salarymedian $104k/yr, 87 open roles
- Blue Origin Quality Engineer or Inspector salarymedian $145k/yr, 85 open roles
- Northrop Grumman Quality Engineer or Inspector salarymedian $99.5k/yr, 67 open roles
- Amazon Leo Quality Engineer or Inspector salarymedian $162k/yr, 36 open roles
- Relativity Space Quality Engineer or Inspector salarymedian $124k/yr, 31 open roles
- CesiumAstro Quality Engineer or Inspector salarymedian $142k/yr, 25 open roles
- Vast Quality Engineer or Inspector salarymedian $154k/yr, 19 open roles
- Astranis Quality Engineer or Inspector salarymedian $100k/yr, 10 open roles
How each employer checks you
For every employer currently hiring quality engineers and inspectors: 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
- Thales interviews. How to apply
- Interview
- Interview
- Assessment
- Airbus interviews and role tests. How to apply
- Interview
- Interview
- 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
- Assessment
- Lockheed Martin's 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
Where these roles are posted
The US states with the most open roles for quality engineers and inspectors, 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.
Students and recent graduates: 34 open space internships for quality engineers and inspectors.
In the US, by state
- California251
- Texas105
- Washington92
- Colorado85
- Florida82
- Alabama56
- Utah24
- Tennessee16
- Arizona15
- Maryland12
- Virginia12
- Pennsylvania11
Space industry jobs by US state
In the US, by metro area
What our research measures about quality 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 hiring848 open roles (5.4% of the space roles we read) at 93 employers, 318 of them posted in the last 30 days.
- Where the jobs are0.4% of these roles are remote; the rest are on-site or hybrid.
- Who can apply64.4% of the postings are open only to US persons or US citizens, and 24.1% name a security clearance.
- Skills and toolsThe skills its postings name most: Lean or Six Sigma (21%), Excel (18%) and SAP or another ERP (18%).
- Degrees and experience16.4% of the postings take a high school diploma or an associate's degree, 21.8% name a master's or PhD, and they ask for a median of 3 years of experience at the least.
- Pay transparency56.7% of the postings state their pay, at a median $125,000 a year.
- Internships and entry level48 open roles are for someone starting out (5.7% of its open roles).
- Shifts, weekends and travel26.3% of the postings ask for weekend work, 29.7% for overtime or extended hours, and 7.2% name an evening, night or rotating shift.
- What applications askThe application forms for this work ask your citizenship or U.S. person status (89.5% of them), about a security clearance (56.2% of them), your GPA (28.9% of them), SAT, ACT or GRE scores (28.6% of them), your salary expectations (26.7% of them) and whether you have worked or interviewed at the company before (48.4% of them).
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Frequently asked questions
How much do quality engineers and inspectors earn in the space industry?
Going by the 532 distinct salaries currently posted for roles for quality engineers and inspectors (each put on a full-time year), the typical range is $90.3k–$221k/yr and the median is $128k/yr. The top posted figure is $328k/yr, at Stoke Space. 363 of the 937 open roles for quality engineers and inspectors state no pay, so check each listing.
What do quality roles ask for?
Quality engineering roles usually ask for an engineering degree; inspector roles often ask for inspection experience instead, and some for an NDT level. Every posting spells out its exact requirements and work site, so read each one. Of the 324 open roles for quality engineers and inspectors whose requirements we read, 1 ask for a PhD, 11 a master's, 190 at least a bachelor's and 122 name no degree.
What does a quality engineer or inspector do at a space company?
Quality engineers and inspectors at a space company check that hardware matches its design: they inspect and measure parts, run nondestructive tests, review build records, work with suppliers on their parts, and trace each problem to its cause.
How do space companies hire quality engineers and inspectors?
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 quality engineers and inspectors now, European Space Agency (ESA) says it checks credentials such as degrees. 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, Anduril, Umbra and Cowboy Space 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.
Which space companies pay quality engineers and inspectors the most?
Of the 9 employers whose postings for quality engineers and inspectors state enough pay for a figure, the highest medians are Amazon Leo ($162k/yr), Vast ($154k/yr) and Blue Origin ($145k/yr). A median is of what each employer's open roles post today, by the same formula for every employer.
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Quality & Mission Assurance
Every open quality role across space employers, with live pay.