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 Staff Flight Software Engineer, reporting to Senior Manager, Flight Software, 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.
You will develop fault-tolerant code for safety-critical systems, and work closely with the avionics team to integrate flight code with avionics hardware. Most importantly, you will work as part of a team that believes that finding and fixing errors is a positive experience that will make everyone’s work better, and makes the team stronger as we continuously improve our processes and products.
Responsibilities:
- Work with the Flight Software team to create highly reliable flight software for all Haven missions.
- Work cross functionally with all other disciplines GNC, Thermal, Propulsion, Power, and ECLSS to support algorithm implementation and integration into the flight software.
- Assess and critique code, ensuring adherence to best practices and established standards, in code reviews.
- Develop driver-level code to interface with radios, sensors, and actuators onboard for all Haven missions.
- Develop and maintain the Telemetry and Commanding Systems which will be used to communicate with our vehicles.
- Develop unit and integrated tests, and establish continuous integration framework for flight.
Minimum Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in computer science, computer engineering, electrical engineering or other engineering discipline.
- 10+ years of experience coding in C++.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Fault-tolerant and safety-critical software design.
- Experience developing software for complex systems such as spacecraft, aircraft or autonomous vehicles.
- Experience working in a continuous build and test environment.
- Experience with Embedded Systems.
- Experience working with satellite communications or telemetry systems.
- Hands-on experience with serial protocols such as UART, CAN, I2C, SPI, and/or Ethernet (TCP/UDP).
- Understanding of Linux kernel software and drivers.
- Network programming experience.
- Familiarity with oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and digital multimeters.
- Familiarity with the Atlassian Suite (JIRA, Bitbucket, Confluence).
- Familiarity with Git, Cmake, and GNU tools.
- Able to work in a Linux environment.
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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