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Flight and ground software

Space Jobs for Software Engineers

, SpaceIndustry.jobs lists 889 open roles for software engineers on , including Muon Space, Hubble Network and Outpost; their typical pay runs $141k to $265k a year, with a median of $160k, and the highest advertised rate is $355k a year at SpaceX.

See 889 roles for software engineers
$141k–$265k/yrtypical paylive median $160k/yrup to $355k/yr at SpaceX

Measured from 524 distinct posted rates, across 31 employers, each as a year's pay (an hourly rate × 2,080 hours). 365 of the 889 open roles here state no pay.

Space companies hire software engineers for the code that flies the vehicle and the software on the ground that builds, tests and operates it. Every role is checked against its employer's job board every hour.

Live roles for software engineers

Updated 29 Oct 2026, 13:40 UTC

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Flight and embedded software

169 open

Software that runs on the vehicle: flight software, embedded and real-time code, firmware.

See all 169 flight software roles

Web, backend and applications

104 open

Customer products, internal tools and the factory and business systems a space company runs on.

See all 104 application roles

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

Each specialty's typical pay is measured over its own open roles the way every band on this site is (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), and shown only where at least three distinct rates are posted.

SpecialtyOpen rolesTypical payHighest rate
Flight and embedded software169$135k–$237k/yr$275k/yr
Ground, mission and test software113$135k–$265k/yr$340k/yr
Cloud, DevOps and infrastructure164$145k–$265k/yr$310k/yr
Web, backend and applications104$148k–$265k/yr$290k/yr
Software engineers339$145k–$265k/yr$355k/yr

What the roles ask for

Read from the requirements of 36 of the 889 open roles for software engineers: the lines each role's pop-up lists from its posting. A role counts once, at the lowest degree it accepts.

0

Ask for a PhD

0

Ask for a master's

25

Ask for a bachelor's or a degree

11

Name no degree

  • Name years of experience30
  • Ask for coding (Python, SQL and the like)18
  • Name u.S. person status (ITAR or EAR)10
  • Name a security clearance10
  • Ask where you live or may work3

The roles that name experience ask for a median of 5 years.

Who hires software engineers in the space industry

EmployerOpen rolesPay stated
Muon Space logoMuon Space37$83.2k–$298k/yr
Hubble Network logoHubble Network1$153k–$250k/yr
Outpost logoOutpost1$275k–$325k/yr
Turion Space logoTurion Space1$175k–$225k/yr
Inversion Space logoInversion Space14$101k–$236k/yr
Xona Space Systems logoXona Space Systems9$132k–$274k/yr
Varda Space Industries logoVarda Space Industries6$169k–$216k/yr
K2 Space logoK2 Space17$62.4k–$240k/yr
Apex logoApex9$125k–$250k/yr
Loft Orbital logoLoft Orbital16$140k–$275k/yr
Quindar logoQuindar7$120k–$190k/yr
Stoke Space logoStoke Space8$58.2k–$347k/yr
Epsilon3 logoEpsilon31$120k–$180k/yr
Slingshot Aerospace logoSlingshot Aerospace3$100k–$265k/yr
Northwood Space logoNorthwood Space7$120k–$224k/yr
BlackSky logoBlackSky6$140k–$205k/yr
Starfish Space logoStarfish Space3$100k–$180k/yr
True Anomaly logoTrue Anomaly42$70k–$340k/yr
Firefly Aerospace logoFirefly Aerospace6Not stated
Blue Origin logoBlue Origin133Not stated
ICEYE logoICEYE25Not stated
Axiom Space logoAxiom Space12Not stated
The Exploration Company logoThe Exploration Company11Not stated
Isar Aerospace logoIsar Aerospace9Not stated
Astroscale logoAstroscale4Not stated
Kepler Communications logoKepler Communications4Not stated
Dawn Aerospace logoDawn Aerospace2Not stated
Planet logoPlanet13$104k–$181k/yr
SpaceX logoSpaceX287$62.4k–$355k/yr
Spire Global logoSpire Global10$90k–$171k/yr
AST SpaceMobile logoAST SpaceMobile17Not stated
Loft Federal logoLoft Federal4$100k–$120k/yr
Voyager Technologies logoVoyager Technologies10$48.9k–$220k/yr
Ursa Major logoUrsa Major5$62.4k–$224k/yr
Relativity Space logoRelativity Space22$102k–$206k/yr
Vast logoVast13$123k–$189k/yr
Rocket Lab logoRocket Lab37$56.2k–$210k/yr
Astranis logoAstranis25$60.3k–$200k/yr
vantor36$86k–$215k/yr
northrop-grumman6Not stated
boeing4Not stated
jpl4$127k–$222k/yr
terran-orbital2$125k–$160k/yr

Ordered by what applying is worth, lifted by a referral boost for the employers that pay us a referral fee; it never changes what an employer pays you.

Where these roles are posted

Roles an employer posts for one country, and roles whose title names a language. Each place opens its own page; each count opens these roles.

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Frequently asked questions

How much do software engineers earn in the space industry?

Across the 524 distinct hourly rates posted for roles for software engineers right now, typical pay runs from $141000 to $265000 an hour, with a median of $160000. The highest posted rate is $355000 an hour, at SpaceX. 365 of the 889 open roles for software engineers state no pay, so check each listing.

Do I need aerospace experience?

Not always: many roles ask for strong software experience in the language and domain they name (C++ and embedded systems for flight software, cloud and web stacks for ground software) rather than space experience. Each listing states what it requires and where it is based. Of the 36 open roles for software engineers whose requirements we read, 25 a bachelor's or a degree and 11 name no degree.

What does a software engineer do at a space company?

A software engineer at a space company writes either the software that runs on the vehicle (flight and embedded code that has to work the first time) or the software around it: mission control, telemetry and simulation, test automation, and the systems the factory and the business run on.

How do space companies hire software 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.

Are these jobs real?

Every role here is read from a space employer's own careers page or job board (Muon Space, Hubble Network, Outpost and Turion 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.

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