Imagine starting your day with a cup of coffee, coding away, and knowing that your work is contributing to the next big breakthrough in space exploration. Sounds amazing, right? Well, it can be a reality.
The space industry is no longer limited to astronauts and rocket scientists. It’s brimming with opportunities for software developers, product experts, and data enthusiasts.
And the best part? Some of the hottest SpaceTech startups are hiring right now.
In this article, we’ll dive into seven startups that are making a significant impact in the space industry. From developing software for rocket scientists to creating the first gas stations in space, these startups are revolutionizing the field.
In order from smallest to largest in size, we’ve included key information that will help you decide which company is right for your next step.
Let’s dive in!
G-SPACE
- Work Policy: Remote (US based)
- Company Size: 10-25
- Year Founded: 2019
- Funding: Grants, Customers (Total Funding Amount: $1.5M)
- Tech Stack: Python, Matlab, JavaScript, React, Angular, Cloud, SQL
What’s the company mission? The team at G-SPACE is on a mission to make microgravity simple. The team is building a microgravity-specialized AI-powered software platform for Microgravity Research Analytics, Modeling, Simulations and Design to accelerate applications towards in-space manufacturing.
G-SPACE capabilities help improve science readiness of microgravity investigations; optimize microgravity product development and, ultimately, increase the efficiency of in-space manufacturing. By leveraging such tools, customers can lower costs of microgravity experiments, save time and derisk their space experiments. In addition, the G-SPACE tools leverage extensive microgravity knowledge to help companies in the ISAM field who are trying to recycle orbital debris and/or use raw materials from Earth or from the Moon towards the manufacturing of space structures such as antennas, telescopes, solar panels, printed electronics and/or glass substrates.
The team at G-SPACE capitalizes on multiple decades of NASA experience in microgravity, space technology, and in-space manufacturing and top talent in Data Science and Modeling and Simulations.
Learn more about their work:
What’s the team culture like? The leadership at G-SPACE is actively building a culture of transparency among the team.
Founder and CEO, Dr. Ioana Cozmuta, explains, “There are a lot of broken relationships between employers and employees. We forgot to be human. We need to work through things in a kind, transparent way… If I’m going to request someone to perform at a high level for the company, then I’m going to be transparent about the work that I’m doing to take care of what the company needs. As the CEO I need to work harder than anyone else.”
They are also building an environment where each team member with the proper motivation, can truly learn and grow. The work is challenging and requires high-performance team players. But it’s incredibly rewarding. The team at G-SPACE is passionate about what they do and they are looking for exceptional individuals who are passionate about artificial intelligence, data analytics, physics modeling and microgravity.
Want to join? Check out their open roles.
Kayhan Space
- Work Policy: Hybrid and remote opportunities available (Office in Boulder, Colorado).
- Company Size: 10-25
- Year Founded: 2019
- Funding: Seed (Total Funding Amount: $11.3M)
- Tech Stack: Kubernetes, C/C++, Python, and JAVA, APIs
About the company. The team at Kayhan Space is on a mission to make spaceflight safer. Co-Founder and CEO, Siamak Hesar, came from an extensive technical and scientific background in astrodynamics. Over the years, he gained experience in satellite operations supporting NASA and Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) missions by building operational flight dynamics software. Through this experience, he discovered that communication between satellite operators was manual and inefficient. He recognized that the current process meant they weren’t set to scale.
So he set out to solve this problem by bringing scalable solutions to the rapidly growing space industry. Today, Kayhan Space brings next-generation automation to satellite operations and spaceflight safety. They are a leader in delivering autonomous safety of flight alerts, space traffic coordination, and decision plans directly to satellite operators.
Learn more about the problem they’re solving:
A look at the engineering team. Kayhan Space is comprised of a technically heavy team and six of their team members have PhD’s in astrodynamics and high-performance computing.
They’re a very flat organization, which allows engineers to step up and take responsibility, and are split into two main teams:
- Astrodynamics Team: This team consists of engineers who have degrees in aerospace and astrodynamics.
- Software Team: This team consists of engineers who focus on frontend applications, APIs, UX, backend engineering, and cloud services.
About the culture. There are three core values that drive the team at Kayhan Space: Diversity, Integrity, and Hard work.
CEO and Co-Founder, Siamak Hesar explains, “The diversity piece is especially important to me. I am an immigrant to this country. Getting into the space industry was extremely difficult for me and I want to do my part to increase the representation of various minority groups in this industry.”
In addition to building a diverse team, the leaders at Kayhan Space are very focused on creating a culture of ownership. To encourage this mindset, they offer company shares to everyone who is hired.
Interested in joining? This is an established company with plans to grow. They recently closed a funding round in a very difficult market and are ready to make a huge impact in the industry. Explore their open roles!
Apex
- Work Policy: In Office (Los Angeles, CA)
- Company Size: 25-50
- Year Founded: 2022
- Funding: Series A (Total Funding Amount: $33M)
What’s the mission? Apex builds satellite buses, solving one of the largest bottlenecks in the space industry. Satellite buses, also known as spacecraft platforms, hold payloads such as cameras, sensors, radios, and more. The buses allow these payloads to function in space, providing them with power, communication, pointing, and more.
As launches become ubiquitous, the demand for more spacecraft continues to increase, and the lack of productized, commercial-off-the-shelf buses are slowing down the industry.
At Apex, their team builds productized spacecraft, delivered in months, not years. Traditionally, the industry has focused on bespoke, one-off builds. This team scales production via their software and design-for-manufacturing innovations.
Hear from CEO, Ian Cinnamon, about the team’s mission:
What are the professional growth opportunities? Apex is a true meritocracy— everybody is encouraged to speak up, take ownership, and help the company win. They believe in hiring engineers who are curious, hungry, and able to learn— allowing everybody to grow and thrive within the company.
Ian Cinnamon (CEO and Co-Founder) shares that the team isn’t “just building bespoke satellite buses for particular missions— we are building a true platform that enables the future of humanity to explore and unlock business opportunities throughout the galaxy. Team members who join in the first few years of Apex lay the foundation for that growth and will continue to expand their opportunities as the company grows.”
What’s the culture like?
“Apex’s ‘get it done’ attitude has enabled us to move at unprecedented speeds. We reject prior ‘status quo’ speeds and take a hard look at how things have historically been done, allowing us to get things done at an industry-defining pace. We believe in empowering our team to do any and everything they need to meet their goals.” – Ian Cinnamon, CEO and Co-Founder
Want to join the mission? Take a look at their roles and apply!
Orbit Fab
- Work Policy: In office (HQ in Lafayette, CO)
- Company Size: 25-50
- Year Founded: 2018
- Funding: Series A, $28.5M
What’s the mission? In short, the team at Orbit Fab is on a mission to create the first Gas Stations In Space™ refueling stations. By providing this, they are able to extend the life of spacecraft, so they don’t end up being disposed of.
What impact does this make on space exploration? Without refueling, a satellite can only be used once or twice and then it becomes debris. With refueling, that satellite can continue to operate. This technology also benefits national security missions. Since spacecraft are constrained by fuel, the ability to refuel means they don’t have to limit which missions they go on.
Learn more about this team’s mission:
What are the growth opportunities for technical employees? This team’s mission has never been done before. They are truly in the business of invention and as a result, their technical team is being stretched as they create things that don’t exist. Engineers at Orbit Fab learn by being hands-on. They believe in building fast, learning from that process, and then building it again… but better.
About the engineering team. The majority of the employees at Orbit Fab are engineers. In fact, most of the executive team have an engineering background. The engineering team is split into 4 key areas: Electrical, Fluid Systems, Mechanical, Systems, and Test Engineering.
The majority of the team works from their headquarters in Lafayette, CO (just outside of Boulder) but they’re also building a team in the UK. Take a look at their Colorado office:
Want to join the mission? Check out their open roles.
Quantum Space
- Work Policy: In-Person (Rockville, MD)
- Company Size: 25-50
- Year Founded: 2021
- Funding: Series A
What problem are they solving? The global aerospace community has made tremendous progress over the last 60 years. But we have still barely scraped the surface when it comes to exploring outer space. As we move further away from Earth, the infrastructure doesn’t exist to support that exploration.
Quantum Space is focused on developing space infrastructure that allows science, exploration and national security to be more efficient and effective. They’re on a mission to build out physical, logistical, and data infrastructure farther from Earth to allow the next generation of space exploration.
The world is moving beyond Earth. Quantum Space will be there ready to support the next wave of expansion and development.
Learn more about their mission:
What’s the team culture like?
“When people come work for us, they have fire in their belly. They want to help humanity with this broader goal of empowering science, exploration, and national security. That passion is what drives our team.” – Ben Reed, Co-Founder and CTO
The team at Quantum Space consists of talented technologists with a passion for space exploration. They’re looking for people who want to make a difference and who are excited about the challenges that come with working at an early-stage company.
While Quantum Space is an early-stage company, they’re staffed with experienced space veterans and the leadership team has an average of 25 years of industry experience.
How is the engineering team structured?
The software engineering department consists of 3 teams:
- Flight Software. This team builds and controls the spacecraft in orbit.
- Ground Software. This team is responsible for the antennas on the ground and the collection of data.
- Data Processing. This team is in charge of edge computing and onboard processing.
Interested in growing your career at Quantum Space? Check out their job opportunities.
Albedo
- Work Policy: Hybrid (Denver, CO; Austin, TX; and Remote)
- Company Size: 50-75
- Year Founded: 2020
- Funding: Series A (Total Funding Amount: $62M)
About the company. Albedo is the first company to offer aerial-quality imagery from space, enabled by the new orbit frontier of VLEO (very low earth orbit).
Here’s where they came from (and where they’re heading):
- 2021: Albedo was founded in Y Combinator. Initialized Capital led $10M seed round; awarded 10cm NOAA imagery license.
- 2022: Completed baseline architecture and design, raised $52M Series A round.
- 2023: Finalize satellite design, establish manufacturing facility in Denver, CO, and begin build of first satellite.
- 2024: Rapid build, assembly, integration, and test of VLEO satellite hardware and software systems.
- 2025: Launch the first and second 10cm commercial satellite.
- 2026: Deploy constellation by launching additional satellites.
Hear from CEO, Topher Haddad, about how their company is expanding into the federal space.
What problems are they solving? Albedo is changing the architecture of Earth Observation (EO) by operating satellites at an orbital regime in which no other commercial provider is successfully operating.
They’re pushing the boundaries of EO by offering aerial-quality imagery (optical and thermal to start) from space, enabling the best of both worlds between ultra high res aerial platforms + global, on-demand, frequent imaging satellite platforms.
Find out more about what they’re building in this interview with Topher Haddad (CEO):
Want to join the team? Check out their open roles.
LeoStella
- Work Policy: Hybrid (Seattle, WA)
- Company Size: 50-75
- Year Founded: 2018
What problem are they solving? The team at LeoStella is on a mission to manufacture innovative small satellites at scale affordably. Thus far, their existing business has been 100% commercial. However, they are also exploring opportunities in the federal sector and internationally.
LeoStella’s newest product offering is the LS-300, which delivers greater on-orbit capabilities for customers:
What areas of culture is the team proud of? The leadership at LeoStella has intentionally positioned themselves to be available to the team. They genuinely care about the opinions of the engineers. They want collaboration to take place between all levels, which means each engineer can easily talk with the company’s leaders and be confident that their voice will be heard.
They have also been very intentional in establishing work-life balance. Every other Friday is a day off that is taken regularly by employees. Their teams truly stick with 80 hours of work every two weeks – often a rarity in the space tech industry!
What are the opportunities for professional growth?
“We promote from within and are always open to professional growth opportunities for our employees. We have promoted employees into management and even VP-level roles. As we grow bigger, that will continue to be a priority of ours.” – Tyler Sands, Technical Recruiter at LeoStella
Interested in joining the team? This is a chance to get in early and truly make an impact at a growing company.
Learn more about the satellites LeoStella is building.
Take a look at their open roles and apply!
Here at hatch I.T., we’re passionate about helping tech professionals land their next role at a growing startup or small business. If you’re looking for more technical openings at an exciting tech company, check out our collection of technical career opportunities.
