Cleared IT recruiting in Denver and Aurora, Colorado
Denver and Aurora hold the manufacturing and ground system side of national security space and one of the largest federal compounds outside Washington.
Buckley Space Force Base in Aurora is a link in the nation's missile warning satellite operations, the Denver Federal Center in Lakewood is the largest single compound of federal agencies outside Washington, Lockheed Martin builds satellites in Littleton, United Launch Alliance runs its engineering from Denver, Northrop Grumman is expanding its space ground systems production in Englewood, and Sierra Space, BAE Systems and the NOAA, NIST and NCAR laboratories of Boulder complete the market. Requisitions run from Public Trust at the federal center to TS/SCI at Buckley.
The metro is large, and a requisition must name its side: Aurora and the east for Buckley and the medical campus, Littleton, Englewood and Centennial to the south for satellites and launch, Lakewood to the west for the federal center, and Boulder, Louisville and Broomfield to the northwest for the laboratories and spacecraft builders.
Installations, agencies and employers that shape hiring in Denver and Aurora
The organizations below shape the Denver and Aurora market. They are named as facts about the area; none is a client of the firm.
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Buckley Space Force Base
In Aurora, Buckley is described by the Space Force as a critical link in the nation's network of space-based missile warning and infrared detection satellite operations; it supports more than 80 partners on and off the base and hosts the Aerospace Data Facility-Colorado. The Aurora Economic Development Council states that Raytheon, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, Booz Allen Hamilton, Leidos and others call Aurora home.
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The Denver Federal Center
In Lakewood, the center is described by the General Services Administration as the largest single compound of federal agencies outside Washington, on 690 acres retained from the wartime Denver Ordnance Plant, and its Building 710, designed to withstand a nuclear attack, operates as the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Region 8 operations center.
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Lockheed Martin Space and United Launch Alliance
Lockheed Martin describes its Littleton work as satellite development and space mission planning for NASA, the Department of Defense and national security programs, and its Boulder work as space-based missile defense and secure communications, with more than 14,000 employees in the state. United Launch Alliance headquarters its program management, engineering, test and mission support in Denver with about 2,700 employees, and its Galileo Operations Center is on East Panorama Circle in Centennial.
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Northrop Grumman, Sierra Space and BAE Systems
Northrop Grumman announced on June 23, 2025 a 100,000-square-foot Highfield Integration Facility in Englewood, adding to a million square feet of Colorado infrastructure for space ground systems production. Sierra Space's Louisville office is at 2000 South Taylor Avenue, and BAE Systems' Space and Mission Systems business delivers spacecraft for national defense and national security missions.
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The Boulder laboratories
NOAA's Earth System Research Laboratories occupy the David Skaggs Research Center at 325 Broadway in Boulder, south of the NIST campus whose Time and Frequency Division maintains the national standard for frequency and time and operates radio stations WWV, WWVB and WWVH. NSF NCAR, managed by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, is on Center Green Drive.
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The Anschutz Medical Campus and the VA
The University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora describes itself as the largest academic health campus in the Rocky Mountain region, with University of Colorado Hospital and Children's Hospital Colorado on site, and the Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center is at 1700 North Wheeling Street next door.
Commuting and remote work around Denver and Aurora
RTD operates ten rail lines providing 113 miles of rail service in the Denver metro, including the A Line to Denver International Airport and service to Nine Mile Station in Aurora, together with park-and-ride lots and bus service. Interstate 225 runs 12.46 miles through Denver and Aurora and connects Buckley's side of the metro to I-25 and I-70, according to the federal route log, and I-25 and I-70 cross at the city's center.
Littleton, Englewood and Centennial are reached from the south side and Boulder from the northwest, and a candidate in one corner of the metro will not accept a daily drive to the opposite corner for long.
Satellite integration, ground system production and missile warning operations are on site. The federal center's agencies follow federal telework policy, the Boulder laboratories offer hybrid arrangements for many positions, and a requisition should state its policy and its side of the metro.
Clearance levels commonly requested in Denver and Aurora
Buckley and the programs around it ask for TS/SCI, satellite and launch programs in the south metro ask for Secret and Top Secret with SCI for national security payloads, and the federal center's agencies designate their positions as Public Trust. Laboratory positions in Boulder run from none to Public Trust for federal employment and contractors.
Colorado's posting rules apply to all of them, and the Chance to Compete Act bars any criminal history question on an initial application. The requisition summary should carry the compensation range, benefits description and closing date before the search begins.
Specialties in demand in Denver and Aurora
Industries hiring in Denver and Aurora
Nearby markets
Questions about hiring in Denver and Aurora
Which Denver-area requisitions carry SCI access?
Those supporting Buckley's missile warning mission and the data facility there, and the national security payload programs at the satellite builders. Most spacecraft, launch and ground system engineering asks for Secret or Top Secret without SCI, and the federal center's positions are Public Trust.
Are Boulder laboratory positions cleared?
Most are not; NOAA, NIST and NCAR positions and their contractors are federal or university employment under suitability rules, and the spacecraft builders in Boulder and Broomfield carry the clearance of the program. The requisition names the level when it applies.