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.
As a Vast Staff Mechanical Engineer, Tooling you will be responsible for designing tools that bring our Haven space station from CAD to in-tolerance reality. Successful candidates are self starters and expected to take ownership from concept through to implementation and first part production. Vast has opportunities for tooling and manufacturing engineers with experience in weld fixtures, sheet metal forming, weld inspection, integration tooling, structural testing, and transportation fixtures. This will be a full-time, exempt position located in our Long Beach, CA location.
Responsibilities:
- Identify, propose, and lead tooling design and specifications while working with end customer engineering team and manufacturing technicians.
- Develop and document tooling requirements from various stakeholders such as vehicle design team, test team and integration team.
- Manage schedule on assigned projects including critical next steps, deadlines, and outcome.
- Manage vendor relationships and coordinate meetings to identify new technologies and how they can be applied to Vast’s cutting edge applications.
- Develop, test, and implement tool improvements to yield time savings or tolerance improvements.
- Coordinate tooling modifications related to part, production, or other changes.
- Work closely with engineering stakeholders and technicians to solve production-related issues.
Minimum Qualifications:
- Bachelor's degree in mechanical or manufacturing engineering or other engineering discipline.
- 5+ years of experience in aerospace or equivalent.
- 5+ years of experience in NX or other CAD package.
Preferred Skills & Experience:
- Analysis experience with ANSYS or similar platform.
- GD&T.
- Work orders and assembly instructions.
- Desire to work hands-on with technicians.
- Sheet metal fabrication.
- Compound curve sheet metal forming.
- Thin Stainless Steel welding and or aluminum.
- Design of pneumatic, electrical, or hydraulic motion systems.
- Critical lifting and break overs fixtures.
- Thin sheet weld design.
- Integration tooling design.
- Large structural components.
Additional Requirements:
- Willingness to work evenings and/or weekends to support critical mission milestones
- Ability to lift up to 25lbs
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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