SpaceX

Aerospace & Defense

Apt Insight

They're operating at immense scale with deep mission conviction, high-stakes engineering, and demanding expectations across teams. Headquartered in Hawthorne, California, the company is a dominant force in aerospace and defense. They fall into the large-to-giant enterprise tier with thousands of team members across multiple launch and development sites. Active hiring remains very robust with over a thousand open technical and operational roles.

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About

We've assembled an exceptional team of scrappy innovators committed to our mission. Helping achieve these goals will be one of the most challenging and rewarding endeavors of your career. You can expect to work alongside some of the brightest individuals and get exposure to leading-edge technology, while playing a direct role in shaping the future of humankind. We seek talented individuals with a pioneering spirit and a curiosity to seek what’s beyond the stars.

Founded2002

HeadquartersHawthorne, US

IndustryAerospace & Defense

Websitewww.spacex.com

Employees19.1K

Total Funding$15.2B

Why people join & leave

Why join

High-impact aerospace missionsValuable equity and stock vestingExposure to cutting-edge technical challengesExceptional resume prestige

Why leave

Extremely demanding work hoursHigh-stress management cultureBurnout from relentless surge schedulesGaps in internal HR protections

Company Pulse

Headcount

-21%past year

Raised

$15.2Btotal

In the News

NASA awards SpaceX $946 million for 3 more astronaut missions to the ISS | Spacespace.com · Sep 19, 2026

NASA Awards SpaceX $946M for 3 More Crew Missions, X Report 19 Sep 2026 - KeepTrackkeeptrack.space · Sep 19, 2026

SpaceX delays Starship Flight 14 to September 28 without any explanation Elon Musk NASA Mars Moon Artemis Programme - India Todayindiatoday.in · Sep 19, 2026

NASA adds three ISS missions to SpaceX Crew Dragon contract - SpaceNewsspacenews.com · Sep 18, 2026

SpaceX scores $950 million from NASA for 3 more crewed flights to ISScnbc.com · Sep 18, 2026

Employee Experience

3.8/5

Career Opportunities

4.0

Compensation & Benefits

3.8

Culture & Values

3.5

Diversity & Inclusion

3.6

Senior Management

3.3

Work-Life Balance

2.5

Quick Take

Strengths

Strong revenue growthReported a 92% year-over-year revenue jump to $7.8B in Q2 2026.

Strong business outlookMaintains a 79 business outlook rating alongside significant compute partnerships.

Watch out

Weak work-life scoreHolds a low 50 rating for work-life balance among employee reviews.

Note

Heavy capital expenditureCapital expenditures surged to $18.37B in Q2 2026 led by AI infrastructure spending.

Things to consider

Low work-life balance — Employees consistently cite intense schedules, long hours, and surge periods that create high personal strain.

Demanding management culture — Internal reviews highlight high-pressure management, weak HR support systems, and a sink-or-swim performance environment.

What They Build

They develop reusable orbital rockets, spacecraft, satellite constellations, and orbital compute systems. Engineering spans complex aerothermal dynamics, propulsion firmware, satellite networking, and distributed ground infrastructure. The development culture prioritizes rapid iteration, aggressive time-to-market targets, and vertically integrated manufacturing.

Launch Vehicles

Satellite Internet

Orbital AI Infrastructure

Spacecraft Engineering

Propulsion Systems

Domains

Embedded Systems

DevOps

Data Engineering

Cloud Infrastructure

Hardware Engineering

Tech Stack

Git

GitLab

Helm

Google Cloud

MLflow

Presto

Selenium

COMSOL Multiphysics