Lockheed Martin Space to add up to 1,250 jobs in Douglas and Jefferson counties over four years

Lockheed Martin Space plans to expand its Colorado operations with as many as 1,250 new jobs over the next four years, according to a statement from the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade.

The new positions will be based at the company’s existing facilities in Douglas and Jefferson counties, the state agency said. Roles will include cybersecurity engineers, software engineers, technicians and administrative services workers.

Kate Watts, Lockheed Martin Space’s vice president of strategy and business development, said the company is focused on both its aerospace work and its local economic footprint.

“We’re building more than systems and satellites. We’re building careers, communities and a future where Colorado continues to lead the world in space,” Watts said in the statement.

The expansion was announced Thursday at the Site Selector Feedback Dinner hosted by the Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation.

Lockheed Martin Space has operated in Colorado since the 1950s and currently employs more than 12,000 people in the state.

The company is a central contractor in NASA’s Artemis program, which is designed to return astronauts to the Moon and eventually send people to Mars. Lockheed is the primary contractor for the Orion spacecraft.

During the Artemis II mission in April, a Denver-area crew of engineers monitored data from Orion around the clock. Astronauts on that flight splashed down in the Pacific Ocean after completing a record-setting flyby of the Moon.

Colorado has long been one of the country’s major aerospace centers, supported in part by the presence of the U.S. Air Force Academy and a large defense and space industry workforce.

The company did not provide a specific hiring schedule or locations beyond its existing Douglas and Jefferson County sites.