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 Industrial Designer, reporting to the Senior Manager, Industrial Design, to support the development of the systems that will be required for the design and build of artificial-gravity human-rated space stations.
In this role, you will help define how our vehicles look, feel, and function for the astronauts who live and work in them, translating technical requirements, engineering constraints, and human factors into compelling, production-ready hardware.
This will be a full-time, exempt position located in our Long Beach location.
Responsibilities:
- Design cutting-edge space habitat exteriors
- Design human-centered interior environments and interfaces for astronauts
- Perform end-to-end industrial design of hardware, from early concept through production
- Translate vehicle requirements, engineering constraints, and human factors into compelling physical products
- Develop and communicate design concepts using sketches, CAD models, renderings, and physical prototypes
- Collaborate cross-functionally with engineering, manufacturing, and supply chain teams
- Support CMF (color, material, finish) strategy for both interior and exterior vehicle design
- Rapidly prototype and iterate to prove design ideas
- Contribute to design standards, guidelines, and visual language for the company’s products
- Present design work to leadership and stakeholders, clearly articulating trade-offs and rationale
Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design, Engineering, or a related discipline
- 5+ years of industrial design experience
- Expertise with CAD tools such as NX, SolidWorks, Rhino, or similar
- Expertise with visualization tools such as KeyShot, Blender
- Strong understanding of materials, manufacturing processes, and design for production
- Strong grasp of human factors and ergonomics
- Excellent communication and storytelling skills
- Experience building and testing full-scale prototypes
Preferred Skills & Experience:
- Experience designing hardware in aerospace, automotive, transportation, or other highly engineered product environments
- Experience designing both exterior vehicle forms and interior human-centered environments
- Ability to translate complex technical and human factors requirements into clear design solutions
- Experience working closely with engineering, manufacturing, and supply chain teams through development and production
- Strong capability in concept generation, visualization, CAD development, and physical prototyping
- Experience contributing to design systems, product standards, or visual language across a hardware portfolio
- Comfort presenting design rationale, trade-offs, and recommendations to leadership and cross-functional stakeholders
Additional Requirements
- Ability to travel up to 20% of the time
- Willingness to work overtime, or weekends to support critical mission milestones
- Ability to lift up to 25 lbs unassisted
- Specific certifications, as appropriate
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
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in Industrial Design, Engineering, or a related discipline
- 5+ years of industrial design experience
- Expertise with CAD tools such as NX, SolidWorks, Rhino, or similar
- Expertise with visualization tools such as KeyShot, Blender
- Strong understanding of materials, manufacturing processes, and design for production
- Strong grasp of human factors and ergonomics
- Excellent communication and storytelling skills
- Experience building and testing full-scale prototypes
Vast Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Vast and has not been reviewed or approved by Vast.
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Healthcare Strength — Company materials describe comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage for employees and dependents from day one, alongside primary care and mental‑health programs. These provisions are repeatedly emphasized as a core part of the total rewards package.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Information highlights generous PTO with an annual cash‑out option, paid parental leave, sick time, and company holidays, with flexible PTO for exempt staff. These features indicate broad time‑off support across multiple needs.
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Wellbeing & Lifestyle Benefits — Onsite meals and snacks, fitness memberships or stipends, and wellness resources (e.g., One Medical and Spring Health) are prominently offered. Such perks appear designed to enhance daily work experience and overall wellbeing.
Vast Insights
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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