Background and objectives <p>Career growth, includes continuous training, mentorship, and professional development, helps improve performance, leading to reduced stress, and improved job satisfaction. This study aimed to evaluate the relationship of career growth with job satisfaction and other demographic and work-related characteristics among nurses working in Military Hospitals in Saudi Arabia.</p> Methods <p>A cross-sectional study was conducted over a period of 3 months in 2024 among nurses working in Military Hospitals in Saudi Arabia. Data were collected using a structured, self-administered online questionnaire composed of three main sections. The first section gathered demographic and professional information. The second section assessed career growth using the Career Growth Scale for Nurses (CGSN), which consists of three dimensions divided in to 17 items. The third section evaluated job satisfaction across three domains (18 items). Responses were rated on a Likert scale ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5), with higher scores indicating stronger perceptions of career growth. Correlation and ANOVA were performed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 27.</p> Results <p>A total of 370 nurses responded to the study. Most of them were between 31 and 40 years of age (58.9%), 88.6% were female, 37.3% were Saudi nurses, 29.7% had 6–10 years of experience, and 62.2% held a bachelor’s degree in nursing. The mean job satisfaction score was 70.19 ± 22.59. Similarly, the mean career growth score was 67.17 ± 19.64, reflecting positive perceived career growth and job satisfaction. A statistically significant but modest positive correlation was found between the two variables (r = 0.257, p &lt; 0.001), indicating that increases in career growth are associated with increases in job satisfaction to a limited extent. Differences in career growth according to years of experience approached but did not reach statistical significance, F (4, 365) = 2.39, p = 0.051, suggesting a possible trend toward variation across experience levels.</p> Conclusion <p>This study found generally positive job satisfaction and perceived career growth among nurses, with a significant positive relationship between career growth and job satisfaction. Although the relationship was modest, the findings underscore the importance of career development opportunities in shaping nurses’ workplace experiences. The observed trend toward differences in career growth across experience levels suggests that career support needs may vary throughout nurses’ professional trajectories.</p> Clinical trial number <p>Not applicable.</p>