November 2025 hiring activity across the space sector was shaped by confirmed public funding decisions, late-stage NewSpace investment rounds, and concrete infrastructure expansion. The ESA Ministerial Council confirmed multi-year budgets for space transportation, exploration, and Earth observation, reinforced by Canada’s expanded ESA contribution. This reduced near-term uncertainty for European and Canadian contractors and supported more predictable workforce planning across primes and suppliers.
Private capital continued to flow into execution-stage programs. Significant funding rounds for Ursa Major, Reflex Aerospace, U-Space, Infinite Orbits, and HyPrSpace supported propulsion manufacturing, satellite production, in-orbit servicing, and launch vehicle development. Regulatory progress also became more tangible as the EU Space Act proposal progressed into stakeholder implementation dialogue, prompting companies active in Europe to anticipate potential future compliance, cybersecurity, and mission assurance expectations. Facility expansion remained visible, particularly in France, while ISS-related contractor layoffs in the United States were localized. Overall, November reinforced a hiring environment anchored in funded programs, industrial scale-up, and regulatory readiness.
The November ESA Ministerial Council confirmed long-term budgets for space transportation, exploration, and Earth observation, supported by Canada’s expanded ESA contribution. This decision supports workforce planning across Europe and Canada, particularly among ESA primes and suppliers in France, Germany, Italy, and partner countries. Read more.
Ursa Major’s $100M Series E is tied directly to propulsion production scale for US-based defense and launch customers. Hiring impact is concentrated in the United States, particularly in manufacturing engineering, test operations, propulsion integration, and program delivery rather than early-stage research roles. Read more.
Reflex Aerospace secured €50M to expand high-throughput satellite production for government and defense customers, with manufacturing and engineering growth centered in Germany and the wider European supply chain. The funding supports expected hiring in satellite AIT, quality assurance, secure systems engineering, and production operations. Read more.
France-based U-Space raised €24M Series A to scale its modular nanosatellite production line, strengthening France’s satellite manufacturing base and drawing in suppliers from across the EU. Hiring demand is expected to focus on manufacturing engineers, automation specialists, embedded software, and production planning roles. Read more.
Infinite Orbits closed a €40M financing round to expand its in-space servicing activities, with operations spanning Europe and Asia-Pacific. The funding supports hiring in spacecraft engineering, mission operations, orbital dynamics, and customer-facing program delivery roles. Read more.
The UK Space Agency awarded Raytheon UK a contract to deliver orbital analyst capability for space domain awareness, reinforcing the UK’s focus on national security space operations. The contract creates direct demand for SDA analysts, mission software engineers, and operations specialists within the UK defense space ecosystem. Read more.
The Exploration Company inaugurated a new engineering, production, and mission control site near Bordeaux, strengthening France’s role in European human spaceflight and cargo vehicle development. The expansion signals incremental hiring in propulsion, thermal protection systems, systems engineering, and flight operations as the Nyx program progresses. Read more.
Methodology and Sources
This report compiles November 2025 announcements from Payload, European Spaceflight, SpaceNews, FCC, FAA, and ESA STAR. Events are scored on a five-point scale for expected hiring impact within 3 to 12 months. Rankings weigh funding size, contract value, immediacy, and regional scope.
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