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 Senior Flight Software Test Engineer - HITL, reporting to the Manager of Flight Software Test, 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.
Responsibilities:
- Develop Software In the Loop (SITL) and Hardware In the Loop (HITL) test execution code to run software on vehicle hardware and in SITL test environment.
- Assist with architecting the automated test framework for Vast overall, and lead the implementation of cross-functional testing across the company
- Assist with architecting and building of HITL test fixtures for avionics and other electrical and electronics hardware.
- Work with subject matter experts to develop and interface with high fidelity physics simulator and with various devices for hardware and software in the loop simulations.
- Work with Ground Software teams to complete the test loop from GSW commanding to HITL and to streaming telemetry off the Vehicle Test Assets, as well as HITL and Avionics Test Stand telemetry to long term data infrastructure pipeline.
- Work with Responsible Engineers across the organization to capture requirements for HITL test cases and understand the Vehicle System.
- Develop unit, integration, and regression tests, and establish continuous integration framework for flight and ground software.
- Act as a technical leader for the team, mentoring junior engineers on the Flight Software Test team and across the Flight Software Team as a whole.
Minimum Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in computer science, computer engineering, electrical engineering or other engineering discipline or 10+ years of relevant experience.
- 5+ years of experience coding in C++ or Python.
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.
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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