🛰️ Industry Sector · Fastest Growing
Satellites power your GPS, your weather forecast, and increasingly, your internet. Starlink, Amazon's Kuiper, and hundreds of startups are filling low-Earth orbit — and they need people on the ground far more than people in space.
What This Sector Covers
Satellites & Communications covers designing, building, launching, and operating the spacecraft that connect and observe the planet — plus the massive ground segment that keeps them working: ground stations, network operations centers, mission control rooms, and the antennas that talk to orbit around the clock.
This is the fastest growing corner of the space economy. Mega-constellations changed everything — instead of building one satellite over five years, companies like SpaceX and Amazon now mass-produce them by the thousands, which means factory jobs, operations jobs, and network jobs at a scale the industry has never seen.
And here's the part most people miss: for every satellite in orbit, there's a team on the ground. Operators, network engineers, regulatory analysts, and technicians — many of these roles need a two-year degree or an IT background, not a masters in aerospace engineering.
Roles In This Sector
Nine of the most common jobs in satellites and communications — from the clean room to the network operations center.
Assembles, integrates, and tests spacecraft hardware in clean rooms before it ever sees orbit.
Non-Engineer FriendlyMonitors spacecraft health and commands satellites from mission control — the air traffic controllers of orbit.
EngineeringDesigns the radio links between satellites and Earth — antennas, signals, and spectrum are the whole job.
EngineeringWrites the flight software, ground systems, and network code that keep constellations flying.
EngineeringMakes sure the payload, bus, ground segment, and network all work together as one system.
Hands-OnInstalls and maintains the antennas and equipment that talk to satellites — outdoors, on real hardware.
TechnicalRuns the terrestrial networks behind satellite internet — straight-up IT skills, space-sized scale.
Non-Engineer FriendlyNavigates FCC and ITU licensing so constellations can legally use radio frequencies worldwide.
Non-Engineer FriendlyPlans satellite activities, schedules ground station passes, and responds when things go sideways.
You don't have to be a rocket scientist
Satellite operations run 24/7, and the people flying spacecraft on the night shift often started with a two-year degree, military experience, or an IT background. Operations is the widest entry door in the whole space industry.
Show me non-engineer roles →Who's Hiring
From mega-constellations to legacy operators, these are the employers driving hiring in this sector.
World's largest constellation — hiring across manufacturing & ops
Building a Starlink rival from scratch — massive scale-up
Satellite manufacturing & Earth intelligence
Broadband & government comms — global ground network
Voice & data constellation — strong operations hiring
GEO & MEO operator — international opportunities
Satellite internet & network engineering roles
Defense & commercial satellites — clearance-friendly
Before You Apply
This sector has its own rhythms and unwritten rules. Here's the inside track.
Satellites don't sleep, so operations centers staff around the clock. Entry-level operator roles on nights and weekends are the easiest way in — and companies promote from their own ops floor first.
Job boards flood "satellite technician" searches with TV dish installer listings. Add "aerospace," "spacecraft," or a company name to your searches to find the real space industry roles.
The Denver–Boulder–Colorado Springs corridor has one of the densest satellite job markets on Earth — Lockheed, Ball, Maxar, and dozens of startups, plus Space Force commands. If you can move there, do.
Ground segments are giant networks. If you have networking, Linux, cloud, or cybersecurity experience — even certifications like Network+ or CCNA — you're more qualified for satellite work than you think.
Mass-producing satellites means production lines, not one-off clean rooms. Manufacturing technicians, quality inspectors, and test techs are hired in waves as constellations scale up.
A big share of satellite work is defense-funded. If you're clearance-eligible, say so on your resume — cleared satellite operators and engineers command significantly higher pay.
Keep Exploring
Satellite work overlaps heavily with these sectors — skills transfer both ways.
