Summary written by USA Jobs 24 from SpaceX's advert and our data on 17,035 current US jobs. How we check every job
At a glance
SpaceX is hiring a Site Reliability Engineer (Application Software) in Hawthorne, CA. It is a full-time role in Software & IT, asking for at least 3 years of experience, first listed on November 5. The advertised pay is $125,000–$160,000 a year. The description mentions Linux, Python, C#, JavaScript, Docker and Kubernetes. SpaceX has 149 other openings in the US, 34 of them in Hawthorne, CA. Across all employers on USA Jobs 24 there are 16 Software & IT openings in Hawthorne, CA today; the typical one asks for 4 years and advertises about $143,000 a year at the midpoint.
LinuxPythonC#JavaScriptDockerKubernetesData modellingTerraform
How the pay compares
SpaceX advertises $125,000 to $160,000 a year, a midpoint of $142,500 a year. Where an offer lands in a range usually depends on experience and on the exact location. That is lower than about 90% of the 1,334 software & IT jobs in California that publish a yearly rate on USA Jobs 24, where the typical midpoint is $213,000 a year. To see roughly what this leaves after federal and California tax, try our take-home pay calculator.
Skills in this advert
How often each skill named in this advert appears across the 4,636 software & IT jobs we list today. Python is the most widely requested (31% of jobs), while Data modelling is the least common (2%). Widely requested skills are what employers expect as a baseline; rarer ones show what is special about this job.
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Before you apply
- Check it is still open. We found this job on SpaceX's Greenhouse site on November 5 and checked it again November 5, 5:17 AM ET. When an employer takes a job down, we remove it at our next daily update.
- Check the location works for you. This role is based in Hawthorne, CA. If you would need to move, ask whether relocation help is offered.
- Match the experience. The advert asks for at least 3 years of experience. If you are a little short, a close match on the skills in the advert can still win an interview.
- Tailor your resume. Use the advert's own words, such as Linux, Python and C#, wherever they are true for you. Our resume guide shows how.
- Know your number. Decide the lowest offer you would accept before the first call. Our salary negotiation guide explains how to ask for more.
- Apply only through SpaceX's own site. Our Apply button goes straight to SpaceX's Greenhouse page. If anyone contacts you about this job and asks for money, gift cards or bank details, stop and check it with our scam checker. Read how to spot a fake job offer.
About hiring at SpaceX
SpaceX has 150 openings on USA Jobs 24 today across 7 states. Most are in software & IT (64), operations (30) and engineering & mfg (20). The biggest locations are Hawthorne, CA (35), Brownsville, TX (31) and Bastrop, TX (31). None of them is fully remote, 31% are open to entry-level candidates and 53% show pay. We collect SpaceX's jobs every day straight from its own careers system (Greenhouse), never from job boards or agencies.
The employer's advert
This is SpaceX's own description of the job, copied word for word from its careers site. We have not edited it.
Show the full advert from SpaceXHide the advert796 words
SpaceX was founded under the belief that a future where humanity is out exploring the stars is fundamentally more exciting than one where we are not. Today SpaceX is actively developing the technologies to make this possible, with the ultimate goal of enabling human life on Mars.
SITE RELIABILITY ENGINEER (APPLICATION SOFTWARE)
The application software team is the central nervous system of SpaceX. We create mission critical applications that are used throughout SpaceX to accelerate launch vehicle production and flight as well as systems that allow Starlink to grow into a worldwide fast, reliable Internet service. Our team is currently creating a platform and tooling that enables access to the compute, storage, and networking required to achieve those goals.
The ideal candidate has strong software engineering fundamentals and a passion for infrastructure: reliability, stability, proactive maintenance, and scalability. You understand the system before you change it, solve hard problems, communicate clearly with stakeholders and teammates, and take ownership of work that manufacturing depends on.
Aerospace experience is not required. We value smart, motivated, collaborative engineers who treat teammates with fairness, respect, and support, and who want to take full ownership of challenging problems to help make humanity multi-planetary.
RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Deploy, upgrade, operate, maintain, and scale our suite of mission-critical products and services
- Manage our underlying infrastructure as code and use modern observability tools to provide a complete picture of application health
- Closely collaborate with software engineers to design and build highly operable, maintainable, and testable systems
- Engage in and improve the entire software development lifecycle — from inception and design through deployment, operation, and continuous refinement
- Practice sustainable incident response and blameless postmortems
- Provide high-quality end-user support to vehicle software engineers
- Participate in the team’s on-call rotation
- Identify and eliminate performance bottlenecks using measurement and creative engineering
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:
- Bachelor’s degree in computer science, information systems, or an engineering discipline; OR 3+ years of professional experience in SRE or DevOps in lieu of a degree
- Experience with Linux operating systems
PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:
- Programming experience in Python, C#, Go, JavaScript, etc
- Experience with on premise compute, storage, and/or networking infrastructure in production
- Experience with both container and virtualization technologies (Docker, Kubernetes, vSphere, QEMU, KVM, etc.)
- Experience with databases and data modeling (Postgres, MySQL, ClickHouse, etc.)
- Experience with infrastructure as code (IaC) tools for managing fleets of servers (Terraform, Ansible, Puppet, etc.)
- Knowledge of the technologies that predate and underpin modern cloud infrastructure, with the ability to translate high-level developer experiences into specific implementations from first principles
- Ability to work with mission-critical and sensitive systems with appropriate urgency and care
- Ability to communicate effectively with customers, peers, and management in both formal and informal settings
ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS:
- Must be able to work extended hours and weekends as needed
- This role requires you to be onsite. Remote and/or hybrid work will not be considered
COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS:
Pay Range:
Level 1: $125,000.00 - $160,000.00
Level 2: $145,000.00 - $195,000.00
Your actual level and base salary will be determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on the following considerations: job-related knowledge and skills, education, and experience.
Base salary is just one part of your total rewards package at SpaceX. You may also be eligible for long-term incentives, in the form of company stock or long-term cash awards, as well as potential discretionary bonuses and the ability to purchase additional stock at a discount through an Employee Stock Purchase Plan. You will also receive access to comprehensive medical, vision, and dental coverage, access to a 401(k) retirement plan, short and long-term disability insurance, life insurance, paid parental leave, and various other discounts and perks. You may also accrue 3 weeks of paid vacation and will be eligible for 10 or more paid holidays per year. Employees accrue paid sick leave pursuant to Company policy which satisfies or exceeds the accrual, carryover, and use requirements of the law.
ITAR REQUIREMENTS:
- To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here.
SpaceX is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with SpaceX is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.
Applicants wishing to view a copy of SpaceX’s Affirmative Action Plan for veterans and individuals with disabilities, or applicants requiring reasonable accommodation to the application/interview process should reach out to EEOCompliance@spacex.com.
USA Jobs 24 copied this listing from SpaceX's official careers site on November 5, 2026 and checked it again November 5, 5:17 AM ET. SpaceX will never ask you to pay to apply or to buy equipment with a check they send you. If anyone does, it is a scam.
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