At Vast, our mission is to contribute to a future where billions of people are living and thriving in space. We are building artificial gravity space stations, allowing long-term stays in space without the adverse effects of zero-gravity. Our initial crewed space habitat will be Haven-1, scheduled to be the world’s first commercial space station when it launches into low-Earth orbit in 2026. It is part of our stepping stone approach to continuous human presence in LEO. Our team is all-in, committed to executing our mission safely and on time. If you want to work with the most talented people on Earth furthering space exploration for humanity, come join us.
Vast is looking for a Senior Manager, RF Engineering, reporting to the Director, RF Engineering, to support the development of communication systems that will be required for artificial-gravity human-rated space stations.
This will be a full-time, exempt position located in our Long Beach location.
Responsibilities:
- Recruit and empower a diverse team of engineers to develop communication systems for crewed spacecraft.
- Guide the development of RF & communication systems requirements for Vast’s applications.
- Manage vendor and contractor relationships.
- Ensure the RF team meets project deadlines and company objectives.
- Foster a strong interdisciplinary relationship with other teams that rely on the RF team to be successful.
- Exemplify a culture of excellence, extreme ownership, and safety. Enable engineers to take responsibility for the system level impact of their work.
Minimum Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s Degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering, physics, or related engineering discipline.
- 7+ years of experience working in an RF communications role.
- 4+ years of experience in engineering leadership.
Preferred Skills & Experience:
- Familiarity with space communication standards such as DVB-S2, CCSDS, C2V2.
- Advanced degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering, physics, or related engineering discipline.
- Prior experience in an RF electronics or systems design role.
- Experience with software development in Matlab, Python, etc.
- Experience with digital communications and networking standards such as Ethernet, UDP, TCP/IP, SPI, I2C, PCIe, SGMII/RGMII.
- Experience with acceptance and qualification test of space rated hardware and related standards such as SMC-S-016, GSFC-STD-7000, MIL-STD-461.
- Deep understanding of system design, fault tolerance, and engineering process needed to create highly reliable, human rated spacecraft.
- Strong sense of accountability and integrity with excellent written and verbal communication skills.
- Ability to teach people of a multitude of education and industry backgrounds about RF & optical communication systems.
U.S. EXPORT CONTROL COMPLIANCE STATUS
The person hired will have access to information and items subject to U.S. export controls, and therefore, must either be a “U.S. person” as defined by 22 C.F.R. § 120.62 or otherwise eligible for deemed export licensing. This status includes U.S. citizens, U.S. nationals, lawful permanent residents (green card holders), and asylees and refugees with such status granted, not pending.EQUAL OPPORTUNITY
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What We Do
Vast is developing next-generation space stations to ensure continuous human presence in space for America and its allies, enabling advanced microgravity research and manufacturing, and unlocking a new space economy for government, corporate, and private customers. Using an incremental, hardware-rich and low-cost approach, Vast is rapidly developing its multi-module Haven Station. Haven Demo’s 2025 success made Vast the only operational commercial space station company to fly and operate its own spacecraft. Next, Haven-1 is expected to become the world’s first commercial space station when it launches in 2026, followed by additional Haven modules to enable permanent human presence by 2030.
With more than 1,000 employees at its Long Beach, California headquarters and over a billion dollars in private capital invested, Vast has built the facilities required to manufacture and operate America’s next space station. The company plans to develop future habitats for the Moon and Mars, dedicated space stations for government partners, and other crewed systems that will unlock the expanding long-term space economy.
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