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 August 2025. 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 Principal Engineer - Haven Demo Vehicle Lead reporting to the SVP Engineering, 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:
- Ultimate owner and Responsible Engineer for the Haven Demo spacecraft from build, integration, test, launch, on-orbit operations, and deorbit of the spacecraft
- Responsible for developing the overall program schedule, product definition, technical and performance trades, resource definition and mission success
- Responsible to reporting overall program status and critical path items to management, executives, and the department for alignment
- Translation of design intent/goals in the context of various design teams language as well as to the greater public/production
- Identify and own projects and processes that improve overall program success and progress
- Work cross functional across the program to clear roadblocks and keep the program moving.
Minimum Qualifications:
- Bachelor's degree in an engineering, math, or physics related discipline
- 8+ years of spacecraft / payload design, test, and delivery experience
- Multi-disciplinary experience working with avionics, propulsion, structures, software, thermal, and operation
- Program / Project Engineering experience
- Previous experience managing technical teams
Preferred Skills & Experience:
- Delivered a spacecraft program to orbit successfully meeting mission objectives
- Experience with interdisciplinary project management across many departments. Interdisciplinary engineering fundamentals and multidisciplinary project execution is the key to success in this role
- Experience developing and presenting executive summaries of status to drive decision making
- 5+ years experience managing projects
Additional Requirements:
- Willingness to work evenings and/or weekends to support critical mission milestones
Pay Ranges:
- L4: $160,000 - $200,000
- L5: $184,900 - $245,100
Salary Range: California
$160,000—$245,100 USD
COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS
Base salary will vary depending on job-related knowledge, education, skills, experience, business needs, and market demand. Salary is just one component of our comprehensive compensation package. Full-time employees also receive company equity, as well as access to a full suite of compelling benefits and perks, including: 100% medical, dental, and vision coverage for employees and dependents, flexible paid time off for exempt staff and up to 15 days of vacation for non-exempt staff, paid parental leave, short and long-term disability insurance, life insurance, free catered meals and snacks and beverages, access to a 401(k) retirement plan, One Medical membership, ClassPass credits, personalized mental healthcare through Spring Health, and other discounts and perks.
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
Vast is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Vast is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.
Top Skills
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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