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 May 2026. 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(n) Materials and Processes Engineer reporting to the Senior Materials and Processes Engineer, to support the development of the systems that will be required for the design and build of artificial-gravity human-rated space stations.
This will be a full-time, exempt position located in our (Long Beach) location.
Responsibilities:
- Support the materials selection, manufacturing process development, and supplier development for avionics materials used on an artificial-gravity space station.
- Develop and qualify new materials and processes in the areas of soldering, conformal coating, potting, wire bonding, etc.
- Conduct research on avionics materials and perform testing for mechanical, thermal, and environmental reliability of electronic systems and components.
- Perform root cause and corrective action analyses to solve problems encountered with internal or vendor manufacturing processes.
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including materials, thermal, and systems engineers, to integrate findings into broader design and testing efforts.
- Write material and process specifications for manufacturing of avionics and nonmetallic materials.
- Generate and execute test plans and review materials to ensure compliance to standards.
- Experience utilizing analytical techniques such as TGA, DSC, FTIR, SIFT-MS, etc. for material characterization.
Minimum Qualifications:
- Bachelor of Science degree in materials science, materials engineering, chemistry, or related technical discipline.
- 2+ years of professional, industry, or academic experience in materials engineering.
Preferred Skills & Experience:
- Materials of Science degree in materials engineering or related discipline.
- Demonstrable knowledge in parts, materials and process selection, manufacturing support, and qualification of electronic materials for air or space hardware.
- The ideal candidate should have experience in at least one of the following areas and have some knowledge of the others:
- Printed circuit boards and electronic components
- Surface mount technology (solders and reflow, conformal coatings)
- Harnessing
- RF Systems
- Batteries
- Electrical and RF properties of materials
- Knowledge of IPC-J-STD-001 Class 3, NASA-STD-8739 series, IPC-STD-2222 Class 3, IPC-STD-6012 Class 3, or industry equivalent.
- Strong academic foundation coupled with hands-on experience.
Additional Requirements:
- Ability to travel up to 10% of the time.
- Willingness to work overtime, or weekends to support critical mission milestones.
- Ability to lift up to 25lbs unassisted.
Pay Range:
- Materials and Processes Engineer: $100,000 - $132,000
- Materials and Process Engineer II: $110,000 - $142,000
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 artificial gravity space stations to expand humanity across the solar system.
Vast’s mission is to enable large populations of humans to live and work in space, permanently.
Our solar system has the resources and room for humanity to thrive and expand without destroying Earth’s biosphere. Unlocking these resources requires in-space infrastructure and industry at an unprecedented scale.
We are building a world-class team to engineer the human experience in space.
Why Work With Us
We're developing artificial gravity space stations to expand humanity across the solar system in order to enable large populations to live and work in space. Not only is what we're working on groundbreaking, but the team prides itself on living by our values of respect, curiosity, action, and excellence making it a lot more fun to achieve our goal.
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