Small Satellite (CubeSat) Engineer
🛰️Builds a satellite the size of a shoebox: electronics, solar panels, flight software, shaker-table tests and finally the launch into space.
Prospects & pay
What the work is like
💼 Job market
🇺🇸 $135k a year on average · +8.3% jobs by 2035 · 3,800 openings a year
Aerospace engineers — US: Census ACS 2020–24 (full-time), BLS projections 2025–35
🇬🇧 £57.1k median a year
Aerospace engineers — UK: ONS ASHE 2025 (full-time)
🤖 AI & automation
AI writes some of the code and helps with design, but building hardware that survives in space and getting it to launch takes an engineering team.
Who it suits
Interests: ⚙️ Tech and engineering, 💻 Coding and digital, ⚛️ Physics and chemistry, 🔧 Making things by hand.
Key strengths: maths, science, logic, manual dexterity.
Where to study
- Bachelor's BEng Aerospace or Electronic Engineering (university CubeSat teams count a lot)
- Master's MSc Space Engineering / Spacecraft Technology
Key school subjects (A-level / IB / AP): Maths, Physics, Computer Science.
🧗 An aerospace or electronics degree, often followed by a space engineering MSc. A student CubeSat team is a huge plus (ESA runs Fly Your Satellite!). Jobs are mostly at NewSpace start-ups.
Universities
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- University of Cambridge Cambridge · €33.4k–81.1k/yr
IELTS 7.5 (7.0 each); subject test (ESAT, TMUA, LNAT, UCAT), interview; apply by 15 Oct; plus college fee £12–14.5k/yr - Imperial College London London · €49.1k–52.3k/yr
A-levels/IB or a recognised foundation; IELTS 6.5–7.0; ESAT/TMUA tests; medicine: UCAT + interview, £58.6k/yr - University of Bristol Bristol
Attestat + foundation or A-levels/IB; IELTS usually 6.5; engineering needs strong maths and physics *
🇺🇸 United States
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA · €58k/yr
SAT/ACT required; TOEFL 90+ (100 rec.) / IELTS 7; own application (not Common App); need-blind for internationals, full need met - Stanford University Stanford, CA · €58.9k–61.2k/yr
SAT/ACT required; no English test required; need-aware for internationals (aid request affects admission), full need met - Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta · €30.1k–31k/yr
out-of-country tuition ≈ $35k (year not labelled on the page); TOEFL/IELTS/DET for non-native speakers *
🇩🇪 Germany
- RWTH Aachen University Aachen · free
No tuition; German: DSH-2, TestDaF 4 in all parts or DSD II; Russian certificate: via Studienkolleg (FSP) - Technical University of Munich Munich · €4k–6k/yr
Non-EU: €2,000-3,000/semester (€2,300-3,400 from 2027/28); German C1 (DSH-2/TestDaF 4x4); aptitude assessment (EfV): grades, test, interview - Karlsruhe Institute of Technology Karlsruhe · €3k/yr
Non-EU: €1,500 a semester; apply with B1, DSH-2/telc C1 Hochschule by start; only Mechanical Engineering International is in English
🇳🇱 Netherlands
- Delft University of Technology Delft · €19.9k/yr
VWO level: Russian certificate assessed individually (usually + 1 university year); IELTS 6.5 (Dutch-taught 5.5); NF: Architecture, Clinical Technology - Eindhoven University of Technology Eindhoven · €18.6k/yr
VWO level with maths and physics; Russian certificate assessed individually (usually + 1 university year); IELTS ≈ 6.5; all bachelors in English - University of Twente Enschede · €12.3k–16.4k/yr
VWO level by file review (usually + 1 university year); IELTS 6.0 (sections ≥ 5.5); Twente Pathway College foundation — last intake Sept 2026
🇫🇷 France
- ISAE-SUPAERO Toulouse
No direct entry from school: concours after 2 years of CPGE (MP/PSI, Mines-Ponts concours); taught in French * - Arts et Métiers Paris
Bachelor de technologie in French via Parcoursup; engineering cycle via concours after CPGE * - CentraleSupélec Gif-sur-Yvette · €22k–44k/yr
English-taught bachelors (with McGill, CityUHK, ESSEC): IELTS 6.5 / TOEFL 90, file + interview; engineering cycle via concours after CPGE
🇮🇹 Italy
- Politecnico di Milano Milan · €160–3.9k/yr
TOL (≥30/100) or SAT ≥620 per section; English/Italian B2; 12 school years, else a university year or foundation - Politecnico di Torino Turin
TIL test or SAT (not for architecture); English/Italian B2; 12 school years, else first university year or foundation - University of Bologna Bologna · €1.2k/yr
English programmes: B2 (some B1), selection by SAT, TOLC-E or CEnT-S; 12 school years. Non-OECD citizens: €1,157 a year
🇪🇸 Spain
- Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM) Madrid · €6.8k–8.2k/yr
Spanish B2 (ACLES/DELE certificate, checked by UNEDasiss); homologation + UNEDasiss, PCE for score; non-EU pay 4th-attempt rate - Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) Barcelona · €1.8k/yr
Homologation + UNEDasiss, PCE for score; non-EU €30/ECTS; some classes in Catalan - Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV) Valencia · €1.5k–2.2k/yr
Homologation + UNEDasiss, PCE for score; non-EU pay double credit price; classes in Spanish/Valencian *
🇨🇿 Czech Republic
- Czech Technical University in Prague Prague · €0–5.1k/yr
Free in Czech (Czech B2, maths); English-taught CZK 55,000–64,000 per semester - Brno University of Technology Brno · free
Free in Czech: Czech ≈B2 + entrance exams, certificate nostrification * - VSB – Technical University of Ostrava Ostrava · €0–4k/yr
Free in Czech; English bachelor's CZK 50,000 per semester (≈€4,000/yr)
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