Launch & propulsion · Launch and spacecraft
Rocket Lab
About Rocket Lab
Rocket Lab builds and launches the Electron rocket, is developing the reusable Neutron rocket, and builds spacecraft and spacecraft components (solar power, reaction wheels, separation systems). It hires in Long Beach, California, Auckland, New Zealand, and its sites in Maryland, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Virginia.
Typical pay, live
, the SpaceJobs.Now board shows 523 open Rocket Lab roles; typical pay across them is $72.8k to $228k a year (median $120k).
Live Rocket Lab roles
Updated 1 Nov 2026, 00:02 UTCMission Manager- TS/SCI Clearance (opens the job details)
Launch & Ops · Long Beach, CA· 1mo agoDetails
$116,800–$160,600/yrMission Manager- TS/SCI Clearance (opens the job details)
Launch & Ops · Littleton, CO, United States· 3w agoDetails
$107,200–$134,000/yrPrincipal Cloud Security Engineer (opens the job details)
Software & IT · Long Beach, CA· 1mo agoDetails
$152,300–$203,000/yrSecurity Analyst Intern Spring 2027 (opens the job details)
Supply Chain · Wallops Island, VA, United States· 1mo agoDetails
$22.00/hrContractor Program Security Officer (opens the job details)
Supply Chain · Long Beach, CA· 1d agoDetails
$88,000–$110,000/yrMission Manager - Neutron (opens the job details)
Launch & Ops · Long Beach, CA· 1y+ agoDetails
$116,800–$160,600/yrManager- Test & Launch Operations (opens the job details)
Launch & Ops · Auckland, NZ· 6mo agoDetails
Manager, Inventory and Logistics (opens the job details)
Supply Chain · Long Beach, CA· 2w agoDetails
$108,000–$135,000/yrDirector, IT Infrastructure (opens the job details)
Software & IT · Long Beach, CA· 2mo agoDetails
$174,800–$233,000/yrDirector, IT Infrastructure (opens the job details)
Software & IT · Auckland, NZ· 2mo agoDetails
Security Analyst Intern Summer 2027 (opens the job details)
Supply Chain · Middle River, MD, United States· 1mo agoDetails
$22.00/hrSecurity Analyst Intern Spring 2027 (opens the job details)
Supply Chain · Middle River, MD, United States· 1mo agoDetails
$22.00/hr
Rocket Lab jobs by country
Where Rocket Lab has open roles. Pick a country to see which of its openings accept applicants there.
Rocket Lab jobs by US state
The states where Rocket Lab has the most open roles, each with its cities and kinds of work.
Rocket Lab jobs by site
The towns where Rocket Lab has the most open roles, each with its kinds of work and what each role asks.
- Long Beach is Rocket Lab's headquarters and production complex, with an engine development center opened in 2023 for its Rutherford engine and the Archimedes engine of its Neutron rocket. (Source: Flying)
- Middle River is Rocket Lab's Space Structures Complex, 113,000 square feet in Lockheed Martin's former plant, where it makes carbon composite spacecraft buses, panels, dispensers and heat shields and parts of its Neutron rocket. (Source: Rocket Lab)
Rocket Lab jobs by metro area
The areas around a city where Rocket Lab has open roles; each area's page lists every space employer there.
Starting out at Rocket Lab
Rocket Lab programs
Rocket Lab openings, sent to your inbox
Each week we send what Rocket Lab posted since the last email, with comparable openings at other space companies. No cost, and you can stop it with one click.
Similar roles hiring now
If Rocket Lab is one of several options, compare these. They are open roles at other verified employers, picked for how closely they match the Rocket Lab postings above, and refreshed every hour.
Manager, Information Security Management (opens the job details)
SES · Software & IT · Bucharest, Romania· 1d agoDetails
Security Officer (opens the job details)
Blue Origin · Supply Chain · Greater Seattle Area· 2w agoDetails
$21.03–$29.44/hr
Vehicle Software Engineer - Summer Internship 2027 (opens the job details)
Inversion Space · Flight Software · Playa Vista, California, United States· 1w agoDetails
Software Engineer Intern - Summer 2027 (opens the job details)
Lockheed Martin · Software & IT · Sunnyvale, CA, United States· 4d agoDetails
$25.18–$35.19/hr
Dream Chaser Flight Controller (Systems Engineer II) (opens the job details)
Sierra Space · Launch & Ops · Louisville, CO, United States· 4mo agoDetails
$94,090–$129,394.75/yr
About Rocket Lab
Builds the Electron and Neutron launch vehicles and spacecraft and their components. It pays $72.8k–$228k/yr typically (median $120k/yr).
Hiring now, with pay we measure from its own live feed523 open roles on Rocket Lab, independently checked 1 Nov 2026.
Paid as an employee on Rocket Lab's own payroll (salaried or hourly, as each posting states).
Long Beach, CA; Auckland, New Zealand; Middle River, MD; Tucson, AZ; Albuquerque, NM; Wallops Island, VA
What Rocket Lab pays
From current postings · as of 1 Nov 2026Median $120k/yr, taken across 371 postings with a stated rate. Posted rates go as low as $37.4k/yr and as high as $330k/yr.
Measured from 346 distinct posted rates, at this employer, each as a year's pay (an hourly rate × 2,080 hours). 152 of the 523 listings open here post no pay at all.
Best-paid Rocket Lab openings today
All 523 by payPrincipal Spacecraft GNC Engineer - Secret Clearance (opens the job details)
Flight Software · Long Beach, CA· 1d agoDetails
$198,000–$330,000/yrDirector, Radar Payload (opens the job details)
RF & Payloads · Long Beach, CA· 1mo agoDetails
$198,000–$330,000/yrSenior Director, Business Development - National Security (TS/SCI Clearance) (opens the job details)
Programs & Business · Long Beach, CA· 1mo agoDetails
$214,000–$321,000/yrSenior Director, Business Development - National Security (TS/SCI Clearance) (opens the job details)
Programs & Business · Chantilly, VA, United States· 1mo agoDetails
$214,000–$321,000/yrSenior Director, Business Development - Civil & Commercial (opens the job details)
Programs & Business · Long Beach, CA· 1mo agoDetails
$214,000–$321,000/yr
“Typical” here means 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; every role list on this site uses that one definition. Our methods page explains where each pay number comes from and how sure we are of it.
The work Rocket Lab hires for
Open any of them for the day-to-day tasks, the other employers hiring for it, and the market rate.
First look at the space sector? Read the beginner guides first or line up pay at each employer side by side.
What our research measures about Rocket Lab
Read from the open postings on 2026-10-31 by our space industry research, rebuilt every day. Every figure opens the row of the report it comes from.
- Who is hiring523 open roles, 2.9% of all the space roles we read, across 13 kinds of work; 207 of them posted in the last 30 days.
- Who can apply100.0% of the postings are open only to US persons or US citizens, and 27.5% name a security clearance.
- Degrees and experience10.7% of the postings take a high school diploma or an associate's degree, 37.7% name a master's or PhD.
- Degrees and experience9 of its open postings count military experience toward what they ask.
- Pay transparency70.9% of the postings state their pay, at a median $120,000 a year.
- Internships and entry level112 open roles are for someone starting out (21.4% of its open roles), 80 of them internships or co-ops.
- Shifts, weekends and travel11.1% of the postings ask for weekend work, 9.8% for overtime or extended hours, and 2.1% name an evening, night or rotating shift.
- Shifts, weekends and travel80 of its open postings offer relocation.
- Who can applyIt had 5 H-1B visa applications and 1 green card (PERM) certification from 1 Oct 2025 to 30 Jun 2026, by the Department of Labor's public data (which space companies sponsor H-1B visas and green cards).
- What applications askIts application forms ask your citizenship or U.S. person status (96.7% of them), about a security clearance (78.6% of them), your GPA (14.7% of them), your salary expectations (82.6% of them) and whether you have worked or interviewed at the company before (82.4% of them).
From the forum
Ask the people doing Rocket Lab work what only they can tell you.
Frequently asked questions
What does Rocket Lab do?
Builds the Electron and Neutron launch vehicles and spacecraft and their components.
How much does Rocket Lab pay?
Openings at Rocket Lab pay $72.8k–$228k/yr in the usual case, and the midpoint sits at $120k/yr. We take both from the 371 current postings with a stated rate. The lowest posted rate is $37.4k/yr; the highest is $330k/yr.
What is it like to work at Rocket Lab?
Rocket Lab pays $72.8k–$228k/yr typically (median $120k/yr).
Which locations does Rocket Lab hire in?
Long Beach, CA; Auckland, New Zealand; Middle River, MD; Tucson, AZ; Albuquerque, NM; Wallops Island, VA
Rocket Lab compared, head to head
Choosing between Rocket Lab and one other employer? Each matchup sets their pay, their entry bar and their open roles next to each other. Sorted by the expected value of applying to the stronger employer in each pair. A referral agreement, if an employer has one, can raise it here but never changes its salary.
Compare Rocket Lab with
Builds the New Shepard and New Glenn rockets and the Blue Moon lunar lander.
$128k–$276k/yrTypical pay, live
Starliner, the SLS core stage, the X-37B and the Space Station, inside an aerospace prime.
$116k–$239k/yrTypical pay, liveSorted 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.
Struggling to fill roles at Rocket Lab? We find the people (you hire them yourself).
Hiring for Rocket Lab? Feature Rocket Lab's roles to get a marked Featured slot above the lists and the lead place in the weekly job email for 30 days. Pricing:$99 for a single role, or $299 to cover every role you have open. To see who else is hiring your disciplines and at what pay, read the monthly space hiring brief.