Series 0861

Aerospace Engineering

Aerospace engineers who design, test, and improve aircraft, missiles, and spacecraft. Most jobs are with the Navy and NASA.

Plain-language description based on the OPM series definition.

0800 Engineering and Architecture Group · General Schedule

See open 0861 jobs on USAJOBS Compare with another series Back to Series Directory

At a glance

Job postings, last 12 months: 362
Open now: 27
Trend (last 3 months vs. 3 before): Rising (+17%)
Demand score: 79/100
Remote opportunity score: 78/100
Veteran opportunity score: 87/100

What these scores mean

Grades and pay

Typical grades

GS-11 to GS-15

Most common promotion potential: GS-14

GS pay plan, used by 43% of this series' postings.

Typical posted salary range

$121,785 to $172,578 per year

Median of the yearly salary ranges in posted announcements.

Who can apply

Share of job postings in the last 12 months, by who the announcement was open to.

Open to the public: 55%
Federal employees and other special groups only: 45%
Listed a veterans hiring path: 34%
Telework eligible (open now): 78%
Fully remote (open now): 0%

Who is hiring and where

Top hiring departments

Department of the Navy (190)
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (78)
Department of the Air Force (35)
Department of Transportation (27)
Department of Defense (18)

Top states

Maryland (89)
District of Columbia (72)
California (58)
Florida (55)
Texas (51)

Hiring patterns

Based on job announcements since Mar 2017. How patterns are calculated

When this series usually posts jobs

Postings usually peak in March and are lowest in December.

Typical postings for series 0861 by calendar month, compared with an average month
Month	Compared with an average month
January	About average
February	About average
March	16% above average
April	6% above average
May	About average
June	8% above average
July	5% below average
August	About average
September	About average
October	6% above average
November	10% below average
December	24% below average

Postings by fiscal year

The federal fiscal year runs from October 1 to September 30. Fiscal years 2025 and 2026 include the government-wide hiring freeze that began in January 2025.

Job announcements for series 0861 by fiscal year
Fiscal year	Postings
FY 2018	994
FY 2019	1,142
FY 2020	1,041
FY 2021	700
FY 2022	949
FY 2023	853
FY 2024	810
FY 2025	381
FY 2026	324

Postings by month, last 12 months

Job announcements for series 0861 opened each month
Month	Postings
Dec 2025	15
Jan 2026	16
Feb 2026	27
Mar 2026	41
Apr 2026	27
May 2026	35
Jun 2026	23
Jul 2026	44
Aug 2026	40
Sep 2026	41
Oct 2026	38
Nov 2026 (month to date)	15

0801 General Engineering 3,680 postings in 12 months
0810 Civil Engineering 1,496 postings in 12 months
0830 Mechanical Engineering 1,428 postings in 12 months
0850 Electrical Engineering 1,230 postings in 12 months
0802 Engineering Technical 1,075 postings in 12 months

About this data

Job numbers come from the USAJOBS API: 244,223 job announcements opened from December 1, 2025 to November 15, 2026, plus 12,260 announcements open on November 15, 2026. Canceled announcements are not counted. Series descriptions summarize the OPM Handbook of Occupational Groups and Families.

These figures describe posted job announcements, not hiring outcomes. Always read the official announcement and its qualification requirements before applying. How the scores are calculated.