From data scientists to engineers and policymakers to educators, NOAA's National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) employs people in a wide range of fields.
Our employees support secure and timely access to global environmental data and information from satellites and other sources to promote and protect the Nation's security, environment, economy, and quality of life.
NOAA Your Place In Space Career Profiles
Did you know that most people who have space-related careers are not astronauts or rocket scientists? In fact, there is a whole universe of jobs related to space that encompasses fields such as science, engineering, technical trades, communications and media relations, and more!
Space missions, satellite programs, and scientific research require a large team of people with a variety of skills. We spoke with a few people here at NOAA about their space-related careers and the advice they’d give to young people reaching for the stars.
Early Career Opportunities
Pathways Programs
OPM’s Pathways Programs consist of three types of paid Civil Service programs – Internships, Recent Graduate programs, & the Presidential Management Fellows Program.
Educational Partnership Program with Minority Serving Institutions
The NOAA Educational Partnership Program with Minority Serving Institutions is a federal STEM education and future workforce program for NOAA and NOAA mission-related enterprises.
William M. Lapenta Student Internship Program
This internship program enables the National Weather Service, (NWS), Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR), and National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service (NESDIS) to target the skills needed to fulfill their specific mission needs. Projects may be focused on research areas or the development of operational products such as decision support tools, climate and weather forecast models, data analysis methodologies, and social science strategies to communicate climate and weather information. Overall, students will focus on areas that will meet the future needs of NOAA’s ever-broadening user community and address strategic weather-water-climate issues.
Ernest F. Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship Program
More than 100 undergraduate students receive tuition support and paid summer internships with NOAA across the country each year.
Sea Grant John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship
The Sea Grant Knauss Fellowship provides a 1-year paid fellowship in Washington, District of Columbia, to graduate students who have an interest in ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes resources and in the national policy decisions affecting those resources.