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 Staff Mission Operations Engineer, reporting to the VP, Mission Operations, 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 are responsible for the planning and successful execution of our spacecraft missions. Here, you will work cross functionally with engineers from other disciplines from the very early stages of spacecraft design through on-orbit decommissioning. The Mission Operations Engineer is responsible for mission operations including authoring procedures to operate the spacecraft, ensuring mission ops runs efficiently, and ensuring the integrity and validity of commands sent to and telemetry received from the spacecraft.
Responsibilities:
- Take extreme ownership of large impact initiatives working with engineers across disciplines to support the development of spacecraft operations procedures, flight rules, products & processes, culminating in the safe & successful operations of a newly launched spacecraft.
- Provide technical and operational leadership as the operations expert in planning for and execution of pre-flight testing and checkouts to ensure spacecraft and ground systems are ready for flight.
- Assist with leading the operation of Vast’s crewed and uncrewed missions for vehicle commissioning, on-orbit operations, anomaly resolution and final deorbit of the spacecraft.
- Perform deep-dive analysis of vehicle telemetry and deliver informed summaries as well as recommendations to missions stakeholders as well as to other engineering disciplines for further review & analysis.
- Formulate and lead the execution of workflows facilitating improvements to processes & systems with a focus on advancing Vast’s Mission Operations while maintaining Vast’s commitment to excellence.
- Plan the scope of and create training materials for conducting training for console operators.
- Strategize plans for and lead efforts to iteratively improve the Mission Systems, Mission Operations Software and other ground processes and collaborate with the Mission Systems Engineering & Ground Software Engineering teams to implement them.
- Work closely with Mission Management to ensure customer requirements are translated to a Concept of Operations that balances all needs.
- Mentor & coach junior Mission Operations Engineers, offering guidance and recommendations to ongoing workflows.
Minimum Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in aerospace, mechanical, software engineering, or other engineering discipline.
- 7+ years of experience in the operation of complex systems.
- Demonstrated ability to work cross-functionally with other engineering disciplines.
- Demonstrated ability to to critically think in high stress environments and rapidly evolving situations.
- Ability to disseminate critical engineering & technical information effectively and clearly.
- Strong verbal and written communication skills.
- Strong demonstrated technical leadership ability.
- Willing to support 24/7 operations during mission critical phases.
Preferred Skills & Experience:
- Experience in human spaceflight mission operations.
- Master’s degree in a technical field.
- 5+ years working in a spacecraft design, build, and test environment.
- Technical knowledge in spacecraft systems engineering (avionics, propulsion, attitude control, communications, orbital mechanics, life support systems, thermal and power control systems).
- Technical knowledge in Space-to-Ground Communication Systems (RF, Ground Stations, Modems, Antenna Systems).
- Experience building from scratch a system, process and team to perform complex operations of an aerospace system (launch vehicle, satellite, crew capsule).
- Software Engineering Skills (C++, Golang, Javascript, React, Software Architecture, Databases, Cloud).
- Matlab or Python/Octave Proficiency.
Proficient at using the command line and scripting languages
- Strong technical writing skills.
- Strong mentorship and leadership skills.
Additional Requirements:
- Ability to travel up to 20% of the time.
- Willingness to work overtime, 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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