At Vast, our mission is to contribute to a future where billions of people are living and thriving in space. Vast is developing next-generation space stations to ensure a 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, followed by additional Haven modules to enable permanent human presence by 2030. 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 Flight Software Test Engineer, reporting to the Vice President, Software, to support the development of the automated testing 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.
This will be a full-time, exempt position located in our Long Beach location.
Responsibilities:
- Develop new and optimize existing software codebases and systems which will be used to test flight software running on the Vast family of spacecraft
- Mentor junior software engineers to help build a strong and capable team
- Own the lifecycle of software, including rolling out to operations, managing configurations, maintaining and upgrading, and supporting end-users
- Configure and optimize automated testing and deployment systems
- Work closely with Systems Engineering and other engineering departments to build a strong understanding of the station
- This is a hands-on role where you will be writing and shipping code used in production
Minimum Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in computer science, computer engineering, electrical engineering or other engineering discipline
- 15+ years of experience coding in C++ or Python
- Proven track record of leading the technical direction for the development of software test frameworks, Hardware-in-the-Loop test assets, or Avionics/Electronics testing for complex safety critical systems
- Excellent System Design skills
- Proficiency in PyTest
Preferred Skills & Experience:
- Experience working in a continuous build and test environment
- Familiarity with Git, Cmake, and GNU tools
- Knowledge of CI/CD and issue tracking tools such as the Atlassian Suite (JIRA, Bitbucket, Confluence) and Github
- Able to work in a Linux environment
- Understanding of Linux kernel software and drivers
- Confident with use of command line based tools
- Experience with Embedded Systems
- Fault-tolerant and safety-critical software design
- Experience developing software for complex systems such as spacecraft, aircraft or autonomous vehicles
- Network programming experience
- Experience working with satellite communications or telemetry systems
- Familiarity with power supplies, electronic loads, oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and digital multimeters
- Knowledge of and experience using Data Acquisition (DAQ) systems such as National Instruments.
Additional Requirements:
- Willingness to work evenings and/or weekends to support critical mission milestones
- Ability to lift up to 25 lbs unassisted
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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