Flight and ground software
Space Jobs for Software Engineers
, SpaceJobs.Now lists 1,976 open roles for software engineers on 119 space industry employers, including Muon Space, Array Labs and Anduril; typical pay across them is $142k to $270k a year (median $169k), topped by $381k a year advertised at Lockheed Martin.

Software Lead and Integration Manager (opens the job details)
Booz Allen Hamilton · Software & IT · Peterson AFB, CO, United States· 2mo agoDetails
$86,800–$198,000/yr
Cloud Infrastructure Engineer (opens the job details)
Booz Allen Hamilton · Software & IT · Colorado Springs, CO· 4d agoDetails
$86,800–$198,000/yr
Software Engineer (opens the job details)
Booz Allen Hamilton · Software & IT · Aurora, CO, United States· 4d agoDetails
$69,400–$158,000/yr
Measured from 1,286 distinct posted rates, across 81 employers, each as a year's pay (an hourly rate × 2,080 hours). 533 of the 1,976 listings open here post no pay at all.
Space companies hire software engineers for the code that flies the vehicle and the software on the ground that builds, tests and operates it. Each listing here is re-verified on the employer's own job board once an hour.
Live roles for software engineers
Updated 31 Oct 2026, 13:02 UTCListed here: Booz Allen Hamilton roles. See every employer
Cloud, DevOps and infrastructure
1 openThe platforms, networks and pipelines a space company's software runs on.

Cloud Infrastructure Engineer (opens the job details)
Booz Allen Hamilton · Software & IT · Colorado Springs, CO· 4d agoDetails
$86,800–$198,000/yr
Software engineers
10 openSoftware engineering roles across space companies.

Software Lead and Integration Manager (opens the job details)
Booz Allen Hamilton · Software & IT · Peterson AFB, CO, United States· 2mo agoDetails
$86,800–$198,000/yr
Software Engineer (opens the job details)
Booz Allen Hamilton · Software & IT · Aurora, CO, United States· 4d agoDetails
$69,400–$158,000/yr
Software Systems Engineer (opens the job details)
Booz Allen Hamilton · Software & IT · El Segundo, CA· 2mo agoDetails
$86,800–$198,000/yr
Joint Targeting Policy Developer (opens the job details)
Booz Allen Hamilton · Programs & Business · Peterson AFB, CO, United States· 2w agoDetails
$69,300–$158,000/yr
Software Engineer (opens the job details)
Booz Allen Hamilton · Software & IT · Chantilly, VA, United States· 2mo agoDetails
$86,800–$198,000/yr
Remote Sensing Software Engineer (opens the job details)
Booz Allen Hamilton · Science & Data · Dayton, OH, United States· 1mo agoDetails
$69,300–$158,000/yr
Remote Sensing Software Engineer, Senior (opens the job details)
Booz Allen Hamilton · Science & Data · Aurora, CO, United States· 1mo agoDetails
$86,900–$198,000/yr
Astrodynamics Software Engineer (opens the job details)
Booz Allen Hamilton · Flight Software · Herndon, VA, United States· 1mo agoDetails
$86,800–$198,000/yr
FPGA Developer (opens the job details)
Booz Allen Hamilton · Avionics · Beavercreek, OH, United States of America· 1mo agoDetails
$99,000–$225,000/yr
Remote Sensing Software Engineer, Senior (opens the job details)
Booz Allen Hamilton · Science & Data · Dayton, OH, United States· 1mo agoDetails
$86,800–$198,000/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 266 out of 1,976 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 experience199
- Require programming (Python, C++, MATLAB and similar)103
- Name a security clearance66
- Name u.S. person status (ITAR or EAR)24
- Set a residency or work-authorization condition23
- Ask for a certification3
- Ask for a professional license2
Where a posting states years of experience, the median ask is 5 years.
Who hires software engineers 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.
Software Engineer salary by employer
What each employer's own postings pay software engineers, by level and by site, with every role and its posted pay.
- SpaceX Software Engineer salarymedian $163k/yr, 334 open roles
- Lockheed Martin Software Engineer salarymedian $158k/yr, 211 open roles
- Blue Origin Software Engineer salarymedian $198k/yr, 141 open roles
- Amazon Leo Software Engineer salarymedian $169k/yr, 129 open roles
- Northrop Grumman Software Engineer salarymedian $136k/yr, 84 open roles
- Viasat Software Engineer salarymedian $181k/yr, 54 open roles
- True Anomaly Software Engineer salarymedian $198k/yr, 41 open roles
- Muon Space Software Engineer salarymedian $218k/yr, 37 open roles
- Vantor Software Engineer salarymedian $149k/yr, 33 open roles
- Rocket Lab Software Engineer salarymedian $161k/yr, 32 open roles
- CesiumAstro Software Engineer salarymedian $147k/yr, 31 open roles
- L3Harris Software Engineer salarymedian $139k/yr, 31 open roles
- Anduril Software Engineer salarymedian $195k/yr, 27 open roles
- Boeing Software Engineer salarymedian $149k/yr, 27 open roles
- Loft Orbital Software Engineer salarymedian $173k/yr, 25 open roles
- K2 Space Software Engineer salarymedian $178k/yr, 23 open roles
- Relativity Space Software Engineer salarymedian $192k/yr, 22 open roles
- Astranis Software Engineer salarymedian $153k/yr, 21 open roles
- KBR Software Engineer salarymedian $143k/yr, 18 open roles
- RTX Software Engineer salarymedian $126k/yr, 18 open roles
- CACI Software Engineer salarymedian $116k/yr, 17 open roles
- Impulse Space Software Engineer salarymedian $190k/yr, 17 open roles
- United Launch Alliance Software Engineer salarymedian $144k/yr, 16 open roles
- E-Space Software Engineer salarymedian $178k/yr, 14 open roles
- Inversion Space Software Engineer salarymedian $170k/yr, 14 open roles
- Sierra Space Software Engineer salarymedian $145k/yr, 14 open roles
- BAE Systems Space & Mission Systems Software Engineer salarymedian $159k/yr, 13 open roles
- Booz Allen Hamilton Software Engineer salarymedian $142k/yr, 11 open roles
- Vast Software Engineer salarymedian $201k/yr, 11 open roles
How each employer checks you
For every employer currently hiring software engineers: 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
- Booz Allen's technical assessment and interviews. How to apply
- Interview
- Interview
- 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 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.
Students and recent graduates: 96 open space internships for software engineers.
In the US, by state
- California632
- Colorado396
- Washington293
- Texas129
- Virginia106
- Alabama63
- Florida58
- Pennsylvania58
- Maryland40
- Arizona30
- Washington, DC19
- Massachusetts10
Space industry jobs by US state
In the US, by metro area
- The Los Angeles area392
- The Denver area289
- The Washington, DC area157
- The San Jose area141
- The Colorado Springs area60
- The Philadelphia area57
- The San Francisco area56
- The Boulder area51
- The Austin area47
- The Houston area46
- The Space Coast45
- The San Diego area29
Space industry jobs by metro area
The public record, in every industry: 1,717,800 software developers work in the US (2025), projected to grow 10% by 2035, at a median $136k/yr (BLS, May 2025). Open space roles for software engineers post a median $169k/yr, 24.3% above it (pay research). Each state's page gives its own.
What our research measures about software & it 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 hiring1,813 open roles (11.4% of the space roles we read) at 109 employers, 634 of them posted in the last 30 days.
- Where the jobs are2.2% of these roles are remote; the rest are on-site or hybrid.
- Who can apply62.9% of the postings are open only to US persons or US citizens, and 40.7% name a security clearance.
- Skills and toolsThe skills its postings name most: Python (52%), Linux (33%) and AWS, Azure or Google Cloud (31%).
- Degrees and experience3.2% of the postings take a high school diploma or an associate's degree, 16.9% name a master's or PhD, and they ask for a median of 4 years of experience at the least.
- Pay transparency66.4% of the postings state their pay, at a median $162,000 a year.
- Internships and entry level131 open roles are for someone starting out (7.2% of its open roles).
- Shifts, weekends and travel19.4% of the postings ask for weekend work, 21.6% for overtime or extended hours, and 0.4% name an evening, night or rotating shift.
- What applications askThe application forms for this work ask your citizenship or U.S. person status (82.0% of them), about a security clearance (54.2% of them), your GPA (37.1% of them), SAT, ACT or GRE scores (36.8% of them), your salary expectations (24.6% of them) and whether you have worked or interviewed at the company before (49.0% of them).
What our research measures about flight software 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 hiring829 open roles (5.2% of the space roles we read) at 105 employers, 260 of them posted in the last 30 days.
- Where the jobs are1.4% of these roles are remote; the rest are on-site or hybrid.
- Who can apply66.1% of the postings are open only to US persons or US citizens, and 33.1% name a security clearance.
- Skills and toolsThe skills its postings name most: C or C++ (74%), Python (61%) and Linux (37%).
- Degrees and experience0.2% of the postings take a high school diploma or an associate's degree, 38.7% name a master's or PhD, and they ask for a median of 5 years of experience at the least.
- Pay transparency64.2% of the postings state their pay, at a median $170,000 a year.
- Internships and entry level91 open roles are for someone starting out (11.0% of its open roles).
- Shifts, weekends and travel10.1% of the postings ask for weekend work, 14.9% for overtime or extended hours, and 0.2% name an evening, night or rotating shift.
- What applications askThe application forms for this work ask your citizenship or U.S. person status (79.6% of them), about a security clearance (38.6% of them), your GPA (17.2% of them), SAT, ACT or GRE scores (15.9% of them), your salary expectations (24.8% of them) and whether you have worked or interviewed at the company before (29.5% of them).
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Frequently asked questions
How much do software engineers earn in the space industry?
Going by the 1,286 distinct salaries currently posted for roles for software engineers (each put on a full-time year), the typical range is $142k–$270k/yr and the median is $169k/yr. The top posted figure is $381k/yr, at Lockheed Martin. 533 of the 1,976 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. Every posting spells out its exact requirements and work site, so read each one. Of the 266 open roles for software engineers whose requirements we read, 1 ask for a PhD, 6 a master's, 174 at least a bachelor's and 85 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. Of the employers hiring software engineers 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, Array Labs, Anduril and Hubble Network 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 software engineers the most?
Of the 29 employers whose postings for software engineers state enough pay for a figure, the highest medians are Muon Space ($218k/yr), Vast ($201k/yr) and Blue Origin ($198k/yr). A median is of what each employer's open roles post today, by the same formula for every employer.
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Every open flight software role across space employers, with live pay.
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Every open software & it role across space employers, with live pay.