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 Senior. Sourcing Specialist reporting to the Director, Supply Chain Management, 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:
- End-to-End Commodity Management: Manage assigned commodities from demand to contract fulfillment.
- Strategic & Tactical Execution: Apply sourcing and supplier management expertise across all organizational levels.
- Supply Base Development: Optimize the supply base to meet long-term program needs.
- Cost and Risk Reduction Strategy: Develop strategies to reduce total cost, lead time, and supply chain risk.
- Supplier Research & Negotiation: Conduct market research, assess suppliers, issue RFQs/RFPs, and lead contract negotiations.
- Integrated Sourcing Strategy: Align sourcing with program, customer, product lifecycle, and in-service support strategies.
- Supplier Performance Management: Oversee supply/demand planning, schedule adherence, quality, on-time delivery, and cost for suppliers.
- Supplier Development & Improvement: Lead supplier improvement initiatives and integrate results into strategies.
- Value Engineering & Cost Analysis: Drive value engineering, BOM cost breakdowns, and should-cost analysis.
Minimum Qualifications:
- 5 years in a Procurement role, 3 years in aerospace industry and/or manufacturing
- Bachelor of Science degree in Business, Engineering or Business-related field
Preferred Skills & Experience:
- Ability to create and update request for proposals (RFPs), purchase orders (POs) and facilities work orders in an enterprise resource planning (ERP) software
- Ability to work effectively in a team environment
- Ability to make independent judgments with limited information
- Communication skills for relaying data (verbally and in-writing) between other employees, vendors, and customers
- Comfortable working in a high-stress environment balancing several projects at any given time, and the flexibility to adjust for abrupt changes in strategic direction
- Ability to balance multiple priorities with ambiguous instructions
Additional Requirements:
- Ability to travel up to 20% of the time
- 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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