Sierra Space Careers in 2026: Dream Chaser, Defense Pivot, and What Job Seekers Should Know
Sierra Space careers in 2026: Dream Chaser, defense pivot, and what job seekers should know
Sierra Space is one of the more interesting companies in the space industry right now — and one of the more complicated. They're building the Dream Chaser spaceplane, developing inflatable space station modules, running a growing defense satellite business, and navigating a CEO departure and repeated workforce reshuffles. If you're looking at Sierra Space careers, the opportunity is real, but so are the risks.
Here's what the company looks like from the inside in 2026, what they pay, what they're hiring for, and what you should know before applying.
What Sierra Space actually builds
Sierra Space spun out of Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) in April 2021 as an independent commercial space company. SNC itself has been around since 1963 — it's privately owned by Fatih and Eren Ozmen and headquartered in Sparks, Nevada. Sierra Space is based in Louisville, Colorado, just outside Boulder.
The company runs three major programs:
Dream Chaser is a reusable spaceplane — a lifting-body vehicle that launches vertically on a rocket and lands horizontally on a runway, similar in concept to the Space Shuttle but far smaller. The vehicle named Tenacity is designed to carry cargo (and eventually crew) to the ISS under NASA's CRS-2 commercial resupply contract. Dream Chaser has been in development for over a decade.
LIFE (Large Integrated Flexible Environment) is an inflatable habitat module made of Vectran fabric that becomes stronger than steel when pressurized. The three-story design is intended as a building block for commercial space stations, including the Orbital Reef station co-developed with Blue Origin. In testing, LIFE has exceeded NASA's recommended burst pressure by 27%, reaching 77 psi against a 60.8 psi benchmark.
Sierra Space Defense was formally established in June 2025 and is quickly becoming a major revenue driver. The division holds a $740 million prime contract from the Space Development Agency (SDA) for 18 missile-tracking satellites, with total national security contracts exceeding $1.5 billion. In January 2026, Sierra Space delivered the first 9 of 18 SDA Tranche 2 satellite structures — three months ahead of schedule.
The Dream Chaser timeline (be honest about it)
Dream Chaser has been "almost ready to fly" for years. The current target is a demonstration mission (SSC Demo-1) in late 2026, but the program has hit a significant structural change.
In September 2025, NASA dropped the guarantee to purchase ISS cargo flights and removed the requirement for Dream Chaser to dock with the ISS on its debut mission. Instead, the first flight will be a free-flying demonstration with minimal NASA support. Only after that demo will NASA decide whether to order actual resupply missions.
As of November 2025, the vehicle has passed critical EMI/EMC pre-flight testing at Kennedy Space Center. Remaining milestones include hot-fire testing, integrated hardware/software testing, and final acoustic testing. The launch vehicle will be ULA's Vulcan Centaur, with landing planned at Vandenberg Space Force Base.
The NASA contract restructuring means Dream Chaser's commercial future as an ISS resupply vehicle is no longer guaranteed. It must prove itself in the free-flyer demo first. For job seekers, this means the Dream Chaser team's workload is real, but the long-term funding is uncertain.
Current job openings and what they hire for
Sierra Space currently has 134 active job listings on Zero G Talent, with the work concentrated heavily in Colorado:
| Location | Open Roles |
|---|---|
| Centennial & Louisville, CO (dual location) | 36 |
| Louisville, CO | 29 |
| Centennial, CO | 17 |
| Broomfield, CO | 16 |
| Englewood, CO | 4 |
| Durham, NC | 2 |
| Remote (VA) | 2 |
The top hiring categories reflect a company that's building hardware and expanding into defense:
| Department | Open Roles |
|---|---|
| Business & Finance | 38 |
| Software Engineering | 19 |
| Supply Chain | 19 |
| Avionics | 14 |
| Aerospace Engineering | 12 |
| Manufacturing | 11 |
| Technician | 9 |
| Electrical Engineering | 6 |
A few roles stand out in the current listings: Dream Chaser Flight Controller (Principal Systems Engineer), Space Vehicle Architect, and Principal Engineer for Rendezvous & Proximity Operations. These are senior positions requiring deep domain expertise in spacecraft operations.
The company also has several defense-specific roles tied to the SDA satellite program and the new "Victory Works" production facility — a 60,000 square foot space unveiled in June 2025.
What Sierra Space pays
From our database of 127 salary-reporting positions and supplementary Glassdoor data:
The average across all salary-reporting roles in our database is $107K-$147K. The top end reaches $329K for senior director positions in software engineering. That director range is competitive with larger defense primes like Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, though mid-level engineering salaries run slightly below those larger companies.
Colorado cost of living matters here. The Louisville/Broomfield/Centennial area is expensive relative to other aerospace hubs like Huntsville or Tucson, but significantly cheaper than the Bay Area or LA.
Work culture: the honest version
This is where Sierra Space careers get complicated. The company's Glassdoor rating sits at 2.5 out of 5 from 266 reviews — notably low for an aerospace company and well below peers like Rocket Lab or Blue Origin.
What employees like:
- Working on genuinely interesting hardware (Dream Chaser, LIFE habitat)
- The 401(k) match is strong — 150% of the first 6% of contributions
- Standard benefits (medical, dental, vision, 3 weeks PTO)
What employees don't like:
- Recurring layoffs have eroded trust. There were 165+ layoffs in November 2023 after Dream Chaser assembly completed, additional cuts in October 2024, and ongoing uncertainty
- The 9/80 work schedule was eliminated with short notice
- Remote and hybrid work is no longer permitted
- The 401(k) match was reduced in early 2026 — from 150% of 8% to 150% of 6%
- Annual raises have not kept up with cost of living
- CEO Tom Vice departed at the end of 2024; chairman Fatih Ozmen is serving as interim CEO
Only 24% of employees would recommend Sierra Space to a friend on Glassdoor. That's a significant red flag and worth factoring into your decision.
If you're considering Sierra Space, ask about the specific team's stability during the interview process. The defense division (SDA satellites) is growing and well-funded. The Dream Chaser team's headcount has been more volatile. Team matters more than company at a place going through this much change.
The interview process
Sierra Space uses Workday as their ATS. The typical process takes about 25 days:
- Online application via Workday
- Virtual screening with a Talent Acquisition partner — basic qualification check, culture fit
- Assessments — technical skills evaluation and values/competency alignment
- Onsite or virtual interview with stakeholders and a technical panel
- Competency-based questions throughout — expect "tell me about a time when..." format
Interview difficulty is moderate (2.92/5 on Glassdoor), and about 51% of candidates report a positive experience. Some interviewees note concerns about business uncertainty being reflected in the interview conversations.
The defense pivot is the real story
If you step back from the headlines about Dream Chaser delays, the bigger story at Sierra Space is the defense pivot. The company formally launched Sierra Space Defense in June 2025, and the numbers tell the story:
- $1.5 billion in total national security contracts
- $740 million SDA prime contract for missile-tracking satellites
- First satellite structures delivered 3 months ahead of schedule
- New 60,000 sq ft "Victory Works" production facility
- Space Force "Quick Start" Resilient GPS agreement
- ESA memorandum of understanding for Orbital Reef collaboration
This is a company hedging its commercial space bets with substantial defense revenue. For job seekers, the defense side may actually offer more stability than the commercial programs right now. Security clearance holders are in particular demand — multiple listings specify "clearance required."
Who Sierra Space competes with for talent
In the Denver/Boulder/Colorado Springs aerospace corridor, Sierra Space competes for engineers with:
- Lockheed Martin (14,000+ employees in Colorado, Space division HQ in Littleton) — larger, more stable, traditional defense
- Ball Aerospace (Boulder) — satellites, instruments, defense
- United Launch Alliance (Centennial) — launch vehicle operations
- Maxar Technologies (Westminster) — Earth observation satellites
The Colorado aerospace market is tight. Engineers with spacecraft hardware experience, particularly in thermal, structures, or avionics, are in demand across all of these companies. Sierra Space's pitch is that you'll work on more novel hardware (a spaceplane, an inflatable habitat) than you would at a traditional prime.
Should you apply?
Sierra Space careers are worth pursuing if you want to work on genuinely cutting-edge space hardware and can tolerate organizational turbulence. The Dream Chaser and LIFE habitat programs are technically fascinating, and the defense business is well-funded.
But go in with open eyes. The Glassdoor score, the layoff history, the CEO transition, and the recent benefit reductions are all real. Ask specific questions during the interview about team headcount stability, program funding status, and retention. The best teams within Sierra Space may be excellent places to work — but "Sierra Space" as a monolith is going through a difficult period.
Browse current Sierra Space job openings on Zero G Talent, or compare with other Colorado aerospace employers like Lockheed Martin and Ball Aerospace. For a broader look at the industry, see all space industry jobs across 88 companies.
