Quality and mission assurance
Space Jobs for Quality Engineers
, SpaceJobs.Now lists 446 open roles for quality engineers and inspectors on 32 space industry employers, including Muon Space, Xona Space Systems and Varda Space Industries; typical pay across them is $87.4k to $209k a year (median $123k), topped by $280k a year advertised at SpaceX.

Staff Radiometric Calibration Engineer (opens the job details)
Vantor · Longmont, CO, United States of America· 3d agoDetails
$105,000–$140,000/yr
Measured from 215 distinct posted rates, across 20 employers, each as a year's pay (an hourly rate × 2,080 hours). 231 of the 446 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 29 Oct 2026, 21:01 UTCListed here: Vantor roles. See every employer
Inspection, metrology and NDT
1 openInspect and measure hardware, and test it without breaking it (NDT).

Staff Radiometric Calibration Engineer (opens the job details)
Vantor · Longmont, CO, United States of America· 3d agoDetails
$105,000–$140,000/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 154 out of 446 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 experience122
- Ask for a certification20
- Name u.S. person status (ITAR or EAR)17
- Set a residency or work-authorization condition9
- Name nDT Level II or III7
- Require programming (Python, C++, MATLAB and similar)6
- Ask for a professional license4
Where a posting states years of experience, the median ask is 4 years.
Who hires quality engineers and inspectors in the space industry
Sorted by the expected value of an application (acceptance odds times posted pay). Employers with a referral agreement get a boost in this order, which has no effect on the salary they offer.
Where these roles are posted
Two groupings: roles posted for a single country, and roles with a language in the title. A place name leads to its own page, and a count lists the matching roles.
Roles posted for one country
Experienced in Quality & Mission Assurance?
Space employers come to us looking for a particular skill, location or credential. Leave your details one time, at no cost, and we put you forward when a role matches, never without your yes.
quality alerts
quality openings, sent to your inbox
Once a week, the quality openings that appeared across every space company we follow, each with its posted salary. No cost, and one click stops it.
Only job openings, never promotions. Stop it from any email.
Frequently asked questions
How much do quality engineers and inspectors earn in the space industry?
Going by the 215 distinct salaries currently posted for roles for quality engineers and inspectors (each put on a full-time year), the typical range is $87.4k–$209k/yr and the median is $123k/yr. The top posted figure is $280k/yr, at SpaceX. 231 of the 446 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 154 open roles for quality engineers and inspectors whose requirements we read, 1 ask for a PhD, 2 a master's, 97 at least a bachelor's and 54 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.
Are these jobs real?
Every role here is read from a space employer's own careers page or job board (Muon Space, Xona Space Systems, Varda Space Industries and K2 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.
More work by profession
Space jobs for mission operations engineers
Launch operations, mission control and satellite operations.
Space jobs for manufacturing engineers
Production, process, additive, composites and fabrication engineering.
Space jobs for physicists
Optics and photonics, space science, astronomy and plasma physics.
Space jobs for test engineers
Integration and test, environmental testing and hot-fire test.
Space jobs for systems engineers
Vehicle and mission systems, requirements and verification.
Space jobs for GNC engineers
Guidance, navigation and control, flight dynamics and trajectory.
Space jobs for RF engineers
Antennas, phased arrays, communications systems and payloads.
Space jobs by profession
Every profession space companies hire, with live counts and pay.
Quality & Mission Assurance
Every open quality role across space employers, with live pay.