This study examined the effect of grit on job satisfaction, with work engagement as a mediating variable among Generation Z elementary school teachers in Samarinda, Indonesia. A quantitative correlational design was employed with 148 teachers selected through disproportionate stratified random sampling. Data were collected using the Grit Scale, Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES-9), and Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS), which demonstrated satisfactory validity and reliability. Data were analyzed using PROCESS Macro 5 Model 4 with 5,000 bootstrap resamples. Results showed that grit had a positive and significant effect on job satisfaction (p < .001), explaining 50.86% of the variance, and on work engagement (p < .001), explaining 13.20% of the variance. However, work engagement did not significantly affect job satisfaction (p = .1465). Mediation analysis showed that work engagement did not mediate the relationship between grit and job satisfaction, as the 95% bootstrap Confidence interval (-0.0358 to 0.4807) included zero. Thus, grit directly predicts job satisfaction. Abstrak Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menguji pengaruh grit terhadap kepuasan kerja dengan keterikatan kerja sebagai variabel mediasi pada guru sekolah dasar Generasi Z di Samarinda, Indonesia. Penelitian menggunakan pendekatan kuantitatif dengan desain korelasional. Sampel terdiri dari 148 guru Generasi Z yang dipilih melalui teknik disproportionate stratified random sampling. Data dikumpulkan menggunakan Grit Scale, Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES-9), dan Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS), yang menunjukkan validitas dan reliabilitas yang memadai. Analisis data dilakukan menggunakan PROCESS Macro 5 Model 4 dengan 5.000 bootstrap resampling. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa grit berpengaruh positif dan signifikan terhadap kepuasan kerja (p < 0,001), dengan kontribusi sebesar 50,86%, serta terhadap keterikatan kerja (p < 0,001) sebesar 13,20%. Namun, keterikatan kerja tidak berpengaruh signifikan terhadap kepuasan kerja (p = 0,1465). Analisis mediasi menunjukkan bahwa keterikatan kerja tidak memediasi hubungan antara grit dan kepuasan kerja karena interval kepercayaan bootstrap 95% (-0,0358 hingga 0,4807) mencakup nol. Dengan demikian, grit secara langsung memprediksi kepuasan kerja.