Blue Origin, the spaceflight company founded by Jeff Bezos, is looking to hire scores of people to staff up a new office in Phoenix.
The company’s hiring website had 178 job openings listed for Phoenix on Feb. 8, including positions in software engineering and data sciences as well as avionics, guidance, navigation and control (GNC) and electronics.
Several of these jobs are hiring in multiple locations, including Phoenix, so it's unclear how exactly many people the company expects to employ in its Valley office. The company has other offices in Seattle, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Denver, Huntsville, Alabama as well as in West Texas and along Florida's Space Coast.
“Our Phoenix office focuses on avionics, systems engineering and integrated supply chain and is centrally located in downtown Phoenix,” the firm’s careers page says.
Geekwire first reported that Blue Origin would be establishing new offices in Phoenix and Denver last week. Blue Origin did not respond to multiple requests from the Business Journal for further comment.
Kiah Erlich, head of astronaut sales and corporate partnerships at Blue Origin, said during a recent meeting of the Phoenix Aero Club that the company is adding jobs as it is looking to increase its output. Between the launch of a new rocket and contract work with the U.S Government and NASA, Erlich said Blue Origin needs a lot of talent.
Blue Origin is hosting an informal open house event in Phoenix on Feb. 9, which has already reached its capacity.The company already has hired about 40 people in Arizona, according to a LinkedIn search.
Blue Origin is also working with Arizona State University to establish a commercial-use space station in the next few years. Blue Origin is leading a team that received $130 million from NASA to establish its Orbital Reef, a space station envisioned to house researchers, tourists and commercial customers.
Brandon Brown of the Phoenix Business Journal contributed to this report.
