Job brief: Principal Software Engineer (Application Software)

What JoRoute checked · Checked by JoRoute

• Listed on SpaceX's own job board. JoRoute does not take listings from job ads or recruiters.
• First seen by JoRoute 2026-11-04 (3 days ago); last confirmed on the board 2026-11-07.
• The apply link opens boards.greenhouse.io, the address SpaceX's board gives for this job.
• No other listing with this title and place on this board in the last 90 days.
• No layoff notices (WARN) under this name in the state files JoRoute reads.

What the listing says · Employer's own words, not checked

• Pay: $210,000 to $340,000 a year
• Job type: Not stated
• Where: Hawthorne, CA
• Posted: 2026-11-04

What the job asks · Employer's own words, not checked

Level: Lead / staff. The title says "Principal".

Must have

• Aerospace experience is not required to be successful here - rather we look for smart, motivated, respectful, collaborative engineers who love solving problems and want to make an…
• Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, math, or scientific discipline and 7+ years of professional experience building and and scaling software;
• OR 9+ years of professional experience building software in lieu of a degree
• 5+ years of experience in full stack development
• Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S.
• § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S.

Conditions

• You may be asked to work extended hours/weekends dependent on launch cadence
• This role requires you to be onsite. Remote and/or hybrid work will not be considered
• You may also accrue 3 weeks of paid vacation and will be eligible for 10 or more paid holidays per year.
• 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/…

Main duties

• Develop highly reliable software solutions that are used across SpaceX
• Create new applications that improve how SpaceX operates
• Build prototypes to prove out key design concepts and quantify technical constraints
• Own all aspects of software engineering and product development
• Deep dive into your users’ problems to find and create efficient solutions

Lines copied from the posting, not rewritten. "Preferred" or "nice to have" items are not listed as must-haves.

How it compares · Compared by JoRoute from listings

• Typical listed pay for software engineer jobs in California: $205k a year (902 listings, 45 employers). This listing is 34% higher.
• Across SpaceX's 2,898 open listings, 59% of those with a posting date were first posted more than 60 days ago. How SpaceX hires

What nobody outside the employer knows · Not known

• Whether the role is already filled or on hold: employers often leave listings up.
• How many people applied, and who reads the applications.
• Where in the published range an offer would land.

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Next steps

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