Space Jobs for Software Engineers

Listed here: Vast 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 305 out of 903 open roles for software 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 experience253
• Require programming (Python, C++, MATLAB and similar)133
• Name a security clearance58
• Set a residency or work-authorization condition35
• Name u.S. person status (ITAR or EAR)30
• Ask for a certification2
• Ask for a professional license1

Where a posting states years of experience, the median ask is 5 years.

Who hires software engineers in the space industry

Employer	Open roles	Pay stated
Muon Space	37	$83.2k–$298k/yr
Hubble Network	1	$153k–$250k/yr
Outpost	1	$275k–$325k/yr
Turion Space	1	$175k–$225k/yr
Inversion Space	14	$101k–$236k/yr
Xona Space Systems	9	$132k–$274k/yr
Quindar	7	$120k–$190k/yr
Varda Space Industries	6	$169k–$216k/yr
Apex	9	$125k–$250k/yr
K2 Space	18	$62.4k–$240k/yr
Loft Orbital	16	$140k–$275k/yr
Stoke Space	8	$58.2k–$347k/yr
BlackSky	6	$140k–$205k/yr
Epsilon3	1	$120k–$180k/yr
Slingshot Aerospace	3	$100k–$265k/yr
Northwood Space	8	$120k–$224k/yr
Starfish Space	3	$100k–$180k/yr
True Anomaly	40	$70k–$340k/yr
Firefly Aerospace	6	Not stated
Blue Origin	133	Not stated
ICEYE	25	Not stated
Northrop Grumman	17	Not stated
Boeing	16	Not stated
Axiom Space	12	Not stated
The Exploration Company	11	Not stated
Isar Aerospace	9	Not stated
Astroscale	4	Not stated
Kepler Communications	3	Not stated
Dawn Aerospace	2	Not stated
SpaceX	285	$62.4k–$355k/yr
Planet	13	$104k–$181k/yr
Spire Global	10	$90k–$171k/yr
Vantor	36	$86k–$215k/yr
AST SpaceMobile	19	Not stated
Loft Federal	4	$100k–$120k/yr
Voyager Technologies	10	$48.9k–$220k/yr
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory	4	$127k–$222k/yr
Ursa Major	4	$110k–$224k/yr
Terran Orbital	2	$125k–$160k/yr
Relativity Space	22	$102k–$206k/yr
Vast	12	$123k–$189k/yr
Rocket Lab	35	$56.2k–$210k/yr
Astranis	21	$60.3k–$200k/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 software 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 software & it 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 hiring895 open roles (11.0% of the space roles we read) at 45 employers, 201 of them posted in the last 30 days.
• Where the jobs are7.3% of these roles are remote; the rest are on-site or hybrid.
• Who can apply83.4% of the postings are open only to US persons or US citizens, and 28.5% name a security clearance.
• Skills and toolsThe skills its postings name most: Python (64%), Docker or Kubernetes (39%) and Linux (34%).
• Degrees and experience4.3% of the postings take a high school diploma or an associate's degree, 12.4% name a master's or PhD, and they ask for a median of 4 years of experience at the least.
• Pay transparency60.2% of the postings state their pay, at a median $160,000 a year.
• Internships and entry level48 open roles are for someone starting out (5.4% of its open roles).
• Shifts, weekends and travel37.2% of the postings ask for weekend work, 35.5% for overtime or extended hours, and 0.3% name an evening, night or rotating shift.

What our research measures about flight software 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 hiring378 open roles (4.6% of the space roles we read) at 34 employers, 66 of them posted in the last 30 days.
• Where the jobs are5.8% of these roles are remote; the rest are on-site or hybrid.
• Who can apply82.9% of the postings are open only to US persons or US citizens, and 29.8% name a security clearance.
• Skills and toolsThe skills its postings name most: C or C++ (82%), Python (65%) and Linux (38%).
• Degrees and experience0.0% of the postings take a high school diploma or an associate's degree, 41.7% name a master's or PhD, and they ask for a median of 5 years of experience at the least.
• Pay transparency46.0% of the postings state their pay, at a median $160,000 a year.
• Internships and entry level37 open roles are for someone starting out (9.8% of its open roles).
• Shifts, weekends and travel16.8% of the postings ask for weekend work, 17.1% for overtime or extended hours.