Space startups are building some of the most exciting hardware in the industry, from reusable rockets to lunar landers. A lot of it is first-of-its-kind work, and you can go from design to test in months rather than years. But moving from legacy aerospace to new space isn’t for everyone.
If you’re currently navigating red tape at one of the primes, you might want in. Your experience counts, but a startup hiring manager will want to know whether you’ll cope with a smaller team and less support. That means fewer people checking your work and less process to fall back on.
Old Space vs New Space: What’s the Difference?
By old space, we mean the established primes. These are the large defense and aerospace contractors, like Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. Much of their government work has historically run on cost-plus contracts, where the customer covers the costs plus a fee. Because the customer is paying for the time spent, there’s every reason to obsess about the details. That means reviews and documentation are thorough, and decisions take time.
New space is the wave of commercial, mostly venture-backed companies building satellites and launch vehicles. They tend to work on fixed-price contracts or investor money, so they build, test and fix hardware quickly. Government buyers are moving in this direction too. In 2025, the Space Force said it wants more fixed-price contracts, with development cycles of two to three years.
Why Engineers Leave Old Space for New Space
More Ownership of Your Work
One of the main reasons engineers from the primes leave is a lack of ownership. The engineers we speak to are frustrated by how long sign-off takes. It often takes months. Many work on one small piece of a huge program and never see the finished product. They want to own their work and see it matter.
We recently worked on an RF engineering role at a startup of about 30 people. At a bigger company, the engineer would own one part of the RF system. Here, they’d lead the RF design for the whole system. For some candidates, that was worth taking a lower salary for.
A Faster Route to Promotion
Slow progression is another big reason. SatNews reported in January 2026 that at legacy aerospace companies, promotion often depends on senior staff retiring. That’s because large teams have a limited number of senior roles. You could be one of six engineers hoping to get the same promotion.
Fast-growing space startups offer more opportunity to grow into senior roles, with lead roles opening up as the team grows. We’ve written about this from the hiring side too, in why space engineers leave the primes for fast-growth companies. We cover other common reasons engineers leave, like burnout and broken promises from management, in our guide to retaining aerospace engineers.
What Startup Hiring Managers Look For in Prime Engineers
Your prime background can be a real advantage at a startup. For roles like GNC (guidance, navigation and control), hiring managers tell us they want a mix of skills: the process discipline of old space and the adaptability of new space. Startups building their first flight hardware or bidding for government contracts need someone who knows why the rigor exists. If you have that mix of skills, you’re in a good position, because GNC is one of the space roles companies find hardest to fill.
Proof You Can Adapt Quickly
Startups move fast, and plans change often. A test result can change a design overnight, or a customer can move a deadline. Hiring managers want to know you can adapt when that happens, without waiting to be told what to do next.
To demonstrate your adaptability, show them examples, like a fast project where the plan changed halfway through, or time in a small team (even if it was in a big company). Things you’ve done off your own back count too, like a fix you pushed through without being asked. They show you’ll act without someone telling you to.
Technical Leadership That Stays Hands-On
If you lead a team, show that you still do the engineering. A technical lead who’s still hands-on is one of the hardest roles we’re asked to fill. At large companies, engineers tend to step back from the technical work once they start leading. A startup can’t afford a lead who only manages.
A First-Principles Mindset
Hiring managers at newer space companies increasingly want engineers who reason from first principles. That means working out why something is done before accepting that it has to be done that way. In an interview, that might mean explaining why a test requirement exists, and when it wouldn’t apply to a smaller program. That tells a startup more about you than a list of programs on your resume.
The Right Culture Fit
But more important than any of these things is culture fit. That’s about how you work with the people around you. At a prime, you might only work closely with a few people on your part of the program. On a startup team of 15, you’ll work with almost everyone, often under pressure. If one person doesn’t get on with the team, it slows everyone down. From what we’ve seen, a poor culture fit can do more damage to a small team than a gap in someone’s technical skills. We’ve written about this from the founder’s side in what separates a strong early space engineering hire.
Culture fit is hard to show on a resume, so hiring managers mostly judge it in the interview. If you answer in one line and stop, they have to dig for everything, and strong experience can still come across as a poor fit.
Making the Move From a Prime to a Startup
Your prime experience gives you more to offer a startup than you might think. Show hiring managers you can adapt and fit the team, and that experience becomes a selling point. Before you apply, make sure the company is a safe bet, and think through what relocating for a space role would mean for you.
If you’re thinking about leaving old space, take a look at the space roles we’re hiring for right now.