Vehicles as a whole
Space Jobs for Systems Engineers
, SpaceJobs.Now lists 1,445 open roles for systems engineers on 111 space industry employers, including Muon Space, Anduril and Hubble Network; typical pay across them is $128k to $250k a year (median $152k), topped by $1.5M a year advertised at Voyager Technologies.
Systems Engineer, Software (Systems Engineer, Staff) (opens the job details)
Redwire · Systems & Test · Littleton, Colorado, United States· 1mo agoDetails
$120,000–$165,000/yrGround Systems Engineer, Staff (Systems Engineer, Staff) (opens the job details)
Redwire · Launch & Ops · Littleton, Colorado, United States· 2w agoDetails
$120,000–$176,000/yrSoftware Engineer, Agentic Modeling & Simulation (Systems Engineer, Sr) (opens the job details)
Redwire · Software & IT · Chantilly, Virginia, United States· 3mo agoDetails
$93,000–$150,000/yr
Measured from 894 distinct posted rates, across 72 employers, each as a year's pay (an hourly rate × 2,080 hours). 401 of the 1,445 listings open here post no pay at all.
Space companies hire systems engineers to hold a vehicle or mission together: its requirements, its interfaces and the proof that it all works as one. Each listing here is re-verified on the employer's own job board once an hour.
Live roles for systems engineers
Updated 31 Oct 2026, 16:02 UTCListed here: Redwire roles. See every employer
Requirements and verification
1 openWrite the requirements, trace them and prove the vehicle meets them, often with model-based systems engineering.
Redwire · Systems & Test · Littleton, Colorado, United States· 2w agoDetails
$120,000–$176,000/yr
Vehicle and mission systems
2 openOwn a vehicle, spacecraft or mission as a system: its architecture, interfaces, budgets and trades.
Systems Architect / Technical Product Lead (All levels) (opens the job details)
Redwire · Software & IT · Chantilly, Virginia, United States· 3mo agoDetails
$108,000–$190,000/yrSpacecraft Architect (Systems Engineer) (willing to consider all Levels) (opens the job details)
Redwire · Systems & Test · Littleton, Colorado, United States· 1mo agoDetails
$140,000–$204,000/yr
Systems engineers
8 openSystems engineering roles across vehicles, subsystems and ground systems.
Systems Engineer, Software (Systems Engineer, Staff) (opens the job details)
Redwire · Systems & Test · Littleton, Colorado, United States· 1mo agoDetails
$120,000–$165,000/yrGround Systems Engineer, Staff (Systems Engineer, Staff) (opens the job details)
Redwire · Launch & Ops · Littleton, Colorado, United States· 2w agoDetails
$120,000–$176,000/yrSoftware Engineer, Agentic Modeling & Simulation (Systems Engineer, Sr) (opens the job details)
Redwire · Software & IT · Chantilly, Virginia, United States· 3mo agoDetails
$93,000–$150,000/yrSystems Engineer (opens the job details)
Redwire · Systems & Test · Littleton, Colorado, United States· 2w agoDetails
$92,000–$126,000/yrSystems Engineer (opens the job details)
Redwire · Systems & Test · Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States· 2w agoDetails
$91,000–$126,000/yrSystems Engineer, Staff (opens the job details)
Redwire · Systems & Test · Goleta, California, United States· 2d agoDetails
$130,000–$175,000/yrSystems Engineer (opens the job details)
Redwire · Systems & Test · Chantilly, Virginia, United States· 1d agoDetails
$93,000–$130,000/yrSenior Systems Engineer (opens the job details)
Redwire · Systems & Test · Goleta, California, United States· 2mo agoDetails
$110,000–$150,000/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.
| Specialty | Open roles | Typical pay | Highest rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Requirements and verification | 52 | $113k–$199k/yr | $239k/yr |
| Vehicle and mission systems | 269 | $138k–$261k/yr | $400k/yr |
| Systems engineers | 1,124 | $125k–$247k/yr | $1.5M/yr |
What the roles ask for
Drawn from the requirement lines of 263 out of 1,445 open roles for systems 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 experience183
- Name a security clearance132
- Name u.S. person status (ITAR or EAR)23
- Set a residency or work-authorization condition13
- Require programming (Python, C++, MATLAB and similar)12
- Ask for a certification3
- Ask for a professional license1
Where a posting states years of experience, the median ask is 6 years.
Who hires systems 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.
Systems Engineer salary by employer
What each employer's own postings pay systems engineers, by level and by site, with every role and its posted pay.
- Lockheed Martin Systems Engineer salarymedian $150k/yr, 310 open roles
- Northrop Grumman Systems Engineer salarymedian $143k/yr, 120 open roles
- Blue Origin Systems Engineer salarymedian $159k/yr, 80 open roles
- KBR Systems Engineer salarymedian $157k/yr, 48 open roles
- L3Harris Systems Engineer salarymedian $132k/yr, 48 open roles
- Amazon Leo Systems Engineer salarymedian $178k/yr, 39 open roles
- Rocket Lab Systems Engineer salarymedian $137k/yr, 37 open roles
- CesiumAstro Systems Engineer salarymedian $147k/yr, 27 open roles
- SpaceX Systems Engineer salarymedian $148k/yr, 27 open roles
- Booz Allen Hamilton Systems Engineer salarymedian $142k/yr, 25 open roles
- BAE Systems Space & Mission Systems Systems Engineer salarymedian $131k/yr, 24 open roles
- Boeing Systems Engineer salarymedian $149k/yr, 23 open roles
- Viasat Systems Engineer salarymedian $183k/yr, 23 open roles
- RTX Systems Engineer salarymedian $139k/yr, 21 open roles
- Sierra Space Systems Engineer salarymedian $155k/yr, 21 open roles
- Voyager Technologies Systems Engineer salarymedian $150k/yr, 17 open roles
- K2 Space Systems Engineer salarymedian $165k/yr, 12 open roles
- Impulse Space Systems Engineer salarymedian $158k/yr, 11 open roles
- Redwire Systems Engineer salarymedian $143k/yr, 11 open roles
- Apex Systems Engineer salarymedian $180k/yr, 10 open roles
- Vast Systems Engineer salarymedian $159k/yr, 10 open roles
How each employer checks you
For every employer currently hiring systems 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 systems 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: 47 open space internships for systems engineers.
In the US, by state
- California395
- Colorado367
- Virginia113
- Washington85
- Alabama67
- Pennsylvania66
- Florida65
- Texas57
- Arizona41
- Maryland34
- Nevada11
- New Mexico10
Space industry jobs by US state
In the US, by metro area
What our research measures about systems & test 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 hiring1,966 open roles (12.4% of the space roles we read) at 124 employers, 774 of them posted in the last 30 days.
- Where the jobs are1.2% of these roles are remote; the rest are on-site or hybrid.
- Who can apply61.4% of the postings are open only to US persons or US citizens, and 45.7% name a security clearance.
- Skills and toolsThe skills its postings name most: Python (40%), MATLAB (21%) and C or C++ (15%).
- Degrees and experience1.9% of the postings take a high school diploma or an associate's degree, 35.4% name a master's or PhD, and they ask for a median of 5 years of experience at the least.
- Pay transparency65.3% of the postings state their pay, at a median $150,000 a year.
- Internships and entry level121 open roles are for someone starting out (6.2% of its open roles).
- Shifts, weekends and travel11.0% of the postings ask for weekend work, 14.5% for overtime or extended hours, and 2.0% name an evening, night or rotating shift.
- What applications askThe application forms for this work ask your citizenship or U.S. person status (78.6% of them), about a security clearance (41.4% of them), your GPA (16.8% of them), SAT, ACT or GRE scores (14.7% of them), your salary expectations (30.0% of them) and whether you have worked or interviewed at the company before (30.6% of them).
Experienced in Systems, Integration & Test?
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Frequently asked questions
How much do systems engineers earn in the space industry?
Going by the 894 distinct salaries currently posted for roles for systems engineers (each put on a full-time year), the typical range is $128k–$250k/yr and the median is $152k/yr. The top posted figure is $1.5M/yr, at Voyager Technologies. 401 of the 1,445 open roles for systems engineers state no pay, so check each listing.
What do systems engineering roles ask for?
Usually an engineering degree and years in a hardware discipline before systems work, with experience in requirements, verification or model-based tools for some roles. Every posting spells out its exact requirements and work site, so read each one. Of the 263 open roles for systems engineers whose requirements we read, 14 a master's, 214 at least a bachelor's and 35 name no degree.
What does a systems engineer do at a space company?
A systems engineer at a space company owns how the parts of a vehicle or mission fit: the architecture and interfaces, the mass, power and data budgets, the requirements and their verification, and the trades between subsystems, working across every engineering team.
How do space companies hire systems 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 systems 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, Anduril, Hubble Network and Umbra 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 systems engineers the most?
Of the 21 employers whose postings for systems engineers state enough pay for a figure, the highest medians are Viasat ($183k/yr), Apex ($180k/yr) and Amazon Leo ($178k/yr). A median is of what each employer's open roles post today, by the same formula for every employer.
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Systems, Integration & Test
Every open systems & test role across space employers, with live pay.