A procurement manager at a composite fabrication shop outside Marietta called us in mid-April with a structural assembly opening. Pay was right, job description was clear. The problem came when we asked whether the facility was ITAR-registered. She went quiet for a moment, then said nobody had ever asked her that before. The shop held Lockheed Martin subcontracts, its parts sat on the US Munitions List, and the operations team hadn't thought through what that meant for contingent workers. ITAR compliance added three days to the screening process and removed two otherwise-qualified candidates from consideration. She'd expected a one-week fill. We delivered in twelve, and the next time she called, she gave us three weeks of lead time. That conversation repeats itself across Georgia's aerospace supplier network more often than it should.
Georgia's aerospace and defense sector employs approximately 200,000 people across more than 500 companies, anchored by Gulfstream's Savannah operation (nearly 13,000 workers) and Lockheed Martin's Marietta facility (6,300-plus statewide, 1,200 jobs added in 2026). Staffing into this sector differs from light industrial or distribution work in two specific ways: ITAR regulations (22 CFR Parts 120-130) require US Person verification before any worker accesses controlled technical data or hardware, and security clearances for programs at classified facilities can add months to a timeline that most clients aren't budgeting for.
Georgia Aerospace by the Numbers
The numbers are bigger than most people outside the sector realize. More than 500 aerospace-related companies operate in Georgia, and the sector's combined economic impact runs over $57.5 billion per year, per the Georgia Department of Economic Development. Approximately 200,000 Georgians hold aerospace-related jobs. The C-130J Super Hercules, assembled at Lockheed Martin's Marietta facility, is the state's number-one export. Aerospace contributed $8.8 billion in GDP in 2024 alone, according to JobsEQ data cited by the Georgia Dept. of Economic Development.
Two employers define the sector's center of gravity, and both are expanding.
Gulfstream Aerospace is Georgia's largest private employer and largest manufacturer. Its Savannah campus employs nearly 13,000 workers and anchors a regional economy built on hundreds of Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers. The company has introduced six new business jet models in a decade and continues expanding its production and customer support facilities. As of early August 2026, there were 139 active Gulfstream postings in the Savannah area on Indeed.
Lockheed Martin's Marietta facility marked 75 years of production in June 2026. The site employs roughly 5,600 workers on the C-130 line and is adding 1,200 jobs. Statewide, Lockheed employs more than 6,300 Georgians, with additional operations at Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay and Robins Air Force Base. The facility's active programs include the C-130J Super Hercules, F-35 center wing assembly, and sustainment work on the F-22, C-5, and P-3. In 2025, the company's Georgia operations generated $4.5 billion in economic impact for the state.
Behind those two names sits the deeper supplier ecosystem that's most relevant for staffing purposes. Composite fabricators, machining shops, avionics installers, interior completion facilities, and MRO providers are spread across Savannah, Marietta, Brunswick, Warner Robins, and the Atlanta metro corridor. Most of the production staffing accessible to a staffing agency lives in this tier, not at the OEM level. That's where the ITAR question matters most.
Where the Production Jobs Are
Staffing conversations about aerospace tend to jump to engineering roles. That's a different labor market with different constraints. The positions that most Georgia aerospace suppliers need to fill on short timelines, where contingent labor actually has a footprint, sit at the production and technician levels.
| Role | Typical Range, 2025-2026 | Notes | |---|---|---| | Structural assembly technician | $22–$28/hr | Supplier shops in Marietta corridor; Savannah completion facilities | | Engine assembler (aerospace) | $25–$32/hr | Atlanta area; specialized; A&P credential required for mechanic-of-record roles | | Aerospace QC / NDT inspector | $32–$36/hr | Documentation-heavy; highest demand in the production tier | | Composite fabrication technician | $20–$26/hr | Growing with supplier base expansion; certification varies | | Production operations (general, sub-tier suppliers) | $18–$22/hr | Smaller supplier shops; most accessible contingent supply |
Sources: Aerotek Georgia aerospace postings, July 2026; ZipRecruiter Georgia aerospace data, August 2026. ZipRecruiter shows Georgia aerospace manufacturing wages averaging $17.34/hr across all experience levels, but that figure includes entry-level and warehouse-adjacent roles at aerospace facilities. Production-line and technician positions run materially above it.
A few practical notes on where the contingent demand actually sits. Gulfstream hires directly at the experienced-technician end and has a deliberate conversion-to-FTE path. The contingent opportunity with Gulfstream is primarily through its approved vendor list, not the open market. Supplier facilities around Savannah and the MRO ecosystem in Brunswick and Hinesville carry more accessible contingent demand. On the Marietta side, Lockheed Martin's supplier network in Cobb and Cherokee counties is where we see more direct placement activity than on the OEM floor.
Georgia's broader advanced manufacturing wage environment has shifted in the last two years. For context on what the EV manufacturing buildout has done to compensation expectations for skilled production workers across the state, our Georgia EV manufacturing workforce post covers that in detail.
ITAR: The Screening Step Most Employers Skip
ITAR is International Traffic in Arms Regulations, codified at 22 CFR Parts 120-130 and administered by the State Department's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls. If you're in the aerospace defense supply chain and your parts touch the US Munitions List, that has direct implications for anyone working in your facility, including contingent workers.
The core requirement for staffing: every worker who has access to ITAR-controlled technical data, hardware, or manufacturing processes must be a "US Person" as defined by the regulations. US Person means a US citizen, a lawful permanent resident (green card holder), or a person qualifying under 8 U.S.C. § 1324b(a)(3), which covers refugees and asylees. It doesn't mean "authorized to work in the United States." An H-1B visa holder can be fully work-authorized without qualifying as a US Person under ITAR.
Why this matters for contingent staffing specifically: sharing ITAR-controlled information with a non-US Person inside the US counts as a "deemed export" under the regulations. Even if the worker never leaves the building, access to controlled data without proper export authorization is a violation. The screening has to happen before the worker starts.
Contractors and temp workers receive the same screening requirements as permanent employees under ITAR. The documentation goes into the facility's records and is auditable.
We used to treat ITAR as a client-side problem. They'd tell us about facility requirements after placement if something came up, and we'd adjust. That approach doesn't work in aerospace. We now confirm ITAR registration status and US Person requirements at intake, before sourcing, because removing a candidate after three rounds of screening costs more time than confirming citizenship documentation on the first call. The practical effect on timelines is one to three business days added to a standard fill, depending on documentation. That's a planning variable, not a barrier.
One clarification that matters: not every Georgia aerospace facility is ITAR-controlled. Commercial aviation suppliers doing strictly civilian work operate under FAA regulations without USML controls. The distinction changes your candidate pool meaningfully. Confirming your facility's regulatory status before opening a requisition is the first call to make, not an afterthought.
Security Clearances: What the Timeline Actually Looks Like
Most production roles at commercial aerospace suppliers don't require clearances. But on the Lockheed Martin program side, at USAF facilities in Marietta, at Robins AFB in Warner Robins, and in classified programs across the supplier base, clearances are a real constraint that facilities often don't communicate clearly until a placement is already in motion.
A few numbers help calibrate. The number of positions requiring security clearance has grown roughly 1,000% since 2014. The pool of cleared candidates has grown less than 10% in the same period. About two-thirds of defense and aerospace firms reported in 2026 that they couldn't fill open cleared roles. DCSA's median processing time for Tier 5 investigations (Top Secret) is running 150 to 200 days. That's five to six months from investigation initiation to adjudication.
A production supervisor at a Cobb County defense supplier called us last fall after a planned clearance initiation for their QC lead fell through mid-process. They needed someone already cleared, not someone who'd get cleared eventually. We found a candidate with an active Secret and relevant aerospace inspection background from a Warner Robins facility. Four weeks to fill. He told us that without the cleared bench we maintain, it would have taken three months minimum. That's the math on trying to build cleared capacity on the fly.
Interim Secret clearances exist and can bring a candidate on-site while the full investigation runs. They're not universal; program and facility policies vary. For production-level roles, most clearance requirements sit at the Secret level rather than Top Secret, where the timeline is shorter and interim grants are more common.
The cleared talent market in Georgia is geographically concentrated. Marietta, Warner Robins, and Kings Bay are the primary nodes. If you're staffing production support in those environments, budget a minimum of six to eight weeks from requisition to an interim-cleared candidate on your floor. Budget considerably more for full adjudication, or find someone who's already cleared.
What Georgia Aerospace Employers Can Do Now
The practical steps for aerospace and defense staffing in Georgia come down to front-loading the compliance requirements that most facilities discover at the wrong time.
Confirm your ITAR status before opening any requisition. Your legal or compliance team can tell you whether your facility is registered with DDTC and which of your processes or products fall under the USML. That answer determines whether your entire candidate pool is subject to US Person verification, or whether you're operating under standard manufacturing screening. Getting that answer on day one of a search is far better than getting it on day eight.
Communicate clearance requirements at the first conversation, not the offer stage. We've had candidates decline positions after two weeks of interviews because a clearance initiation requirement appeared at the end. It's not that candidates object to clearances. It's that being told about a major requirement late in the process feels like a bait-and-switch, and experienced production workers have enough options that they don't have to accept that. Include clearance details in the initial job brief.
Check your posted rates against the ranges in the table above. Aerospace and defense roles carry compliance overhead that standard light industrial roles don't. If you're posting assembly technicians at rates competitive with a dry goods warehouse, you're asking candidates to take on additional screening requirements for no additional pay. The ITAR-compliant production role needs a pay premium to compete with simpler manufacturing placements in the same labor pool.
For cleared roles specifically: plan six months or more ahead and maintain relationships with cleared workers from prior placements. The cleared talent pipeline doesn't rebuild fast, and approaching it as a reactive requisition rather than a standing roster creates avoidable gaps.
We staff aerospace and defense supply chain facilities across Georgia, from Savannah's supplier corridor to Cobb and Cherokee county operations around Marietta. If you want to know where your rate and timeline stand against current market conditions, or you're trying to figure out whether your facility's compliance requirements are affecting your fill rate, Get Started and we'll walk through it with you.
