Staff Design Reliability Engineer

<div class="content-intro"><p>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.</p></div><p>Vast is looking for a <strong>Staff Design Reliability Engineer</strong>, reporting to the <strong>Senior Manager, Design Reliability</strong>,<strong>&nbsp;</strong>to support the development of the systems that will be required for the design and build of artificial-gravity human-rated space stations.</p> <p>This will be a <strong>full-time</strong>, <strong>exempt</strong> position located in our <strong>Long Beach</strong> location.</p> <p><strong>Responsibilities:&nbsp;</strong></p> <ul> <li><strong>Technical Leadership</strong>: Lead the technical reviews that shape the future of artificial-gravity space habitats—providing clear, decisive guidance during milestone design reviews and major risk gates.</li> <li>Oversee qualification and test completeness for flight systems, ensuring our test campaigns are robust, disciplined, and aligned with human-rated reliability.</li> <li>Bring deep engineering intuition to test campaigns, identifying risks early and helping teams converge on safe, resilient solutions.</li> <li>Evaluate complex design and operational changes, safeguarding technical integrity as the system evolves.</li> <li><strong>Design Excellence</strong>:&nbsp;Serve as the architect and guardian of Vast’s engineering standards, design guides, and review frameworks—tools that enable fast, confident decision-making across the company.</li> <li>Make engineering best practices accessible and actionable, especially for engineers moving rapidly under ambitious program timelines.</li> <li>Support and elevate engineering teams across the organization by bringing broad experience in design, build cycles, integration, and test.</li> <li>Turn organizational knowledge into lasting guidance by capturing lessons learned and strengthening future standards.</li> <li><strong>Process Ownership</strong>:&nbsp;Build and steward the processes that ensure engineering rigor at scale—ensuring designs meet standards, reviews are comprehensive, and changes are consistently implemented.</li> <li>Own and continuously refine design review templates, reliability checklists, and internal design guides.</li> <li>Track design maturity and compliance across the station and vehicle architecture, ensuring nothing slips through the cracks.</li> <li>Build tools, frameworks, and automation that empower engineers to explore design trade-offs and risks with clarity and speed.</li> <li><strong>Cross-Functional Influence</strong>:&nbsp;Work across all facets of the engineering organization to improve reliability.</li> <li>Partner with configuration and change management so that every update to flight hardware is intentional, reviewed, and fully understood.</li> <li>Partner with the internal software team to ensure system data, configuration details, and design decisions are well organized and accessible.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Minimum Qualifications:</strong></p> <ul> <li>Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Systems Engineering, or related field.</li> <li>10+ years of experience in responsible engineering, design ownership, systems integration, test engineering, or reliability-focused development.</li> <li>Demonstrated experience conducting design reviews, qualification reviews, or major change assessments.</li> <li>Strong communicator and collaborative leader with high emotional intelligence, diplomacy, and the ability to influence at all levels.</li> <li>Resilient, curious, and committed to continuous learning in fast-paced or high-pressure environments.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Preferred Skills &amp; Experience:</strong></p> <ul> <li>Experience in Responsible Engineering, Systems Engineering, Office of the Chief Engineer, or Reliability Engineering roles on complex aerospace systems.</li> <li>Hands-on experience designing, assembling, integrating, or testing hardware.</li> <li>Background with spacecraft, aircraft, launch vehicles, or other mission- or safety-critical systems.</li> <li>Familiarity with fracture control, reliability methodologies, or human-rated hardware standards.</li> <li>Experience creating engineering standards, review templates, or technical guidance frameworks.</li> <li>Strong scripting and data analysis skills (Python, MATLAB, Excel) and familiarity with visualization tools (e.g., Tableau).</li> <li>Knowledge of manufacturing processes, materials selection, and hardware qualification pathways.</li> <li>Strong systems-level intuition and the ability to anticipate and articulate risks early.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Additional Requirements:</strong></p> <ul> <li>Willingness to work overtime, or weekends to support critical mission milestones.</li> </ul> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p><div class="content-pay-transparency"><div class="pay-input"><div class="title">Pay Range: California</div><div class="pay-range"><span>$162,000</span><span class="divider">&mdash;</span><span>$230,000 USD</span></div></div></div><div class="content-conclusion"><div style="line-height: 1;"><strong>COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS</strong></div> <div style="line-height: 1;">&nbsp;</div> <div style="line-height: 1;"> <div> <div data-qa="message_pane"> <div> <div id="message-list"> <div id="message-list"> <div data-qa="slack_kit_scrollbar"> <div> <div data-qa="slack_kit_list"> <div id="message-list_1770163429.476589" data-qa="virtual-list-item" data-item-key="1770163429.476589"> <div data-qa="message_container" data-qa-unprocessed="false" data-qa-placeholder="false" data-msg-ts="1770163429.476589" data-msg-channel-id="D1T52LDR4"> <div data-qa-hover="true"> <div> <div> <div> <div data-qa="message_content"> <div> <div data-qa="message-text"> <div data-qa="block-kit-renderer"> <div> <div> <div>Base salary will vary depending on job-related knowledge, education, skills, experience, business needs, and market demand. Salary is just one component of our comprehensive compensation package. Full-time employees also receive company equity, as well as access to a full suite of compelling benefits and perks, including: 100% medical, dental, and vision coverage for employees and dependents, generous paid time off; up to 20+ days of vacation for exempt staff and up to 10+ days of vacation for non-exempt staff with the ability to cash-out unused vacation annually, paid parental leave, short and long-term disability insurance, life insurance, access to a 401(k) retirement plan, ClassPass credits, personalized mental healthcare through Spring Health, and other discounts and perks. We also take pride in offering exceptional food perks, with snacks, drip coffee &amp; onsite barista, cold drinks, and dinner meals remaining free of charge, and lunch subsidized as part of Vast’s ongoing commitment to providing high-quality meals for employees.</div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div id="message-list_bottomSpacer" data-qa="virtual-list-item" data-item-key="bottomSpacer"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div> <div>&nbsp;</div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div style="line-height: 1;"> <p><strong>U.S. EXPORT CONTROL COMPLIANCE STATUS</strong></p> 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 <a href="https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-22/section-120.62">22 C.F.R. § 120.62</a> 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.</div> <div style="line-height: 1;">&nbsp;</div> <p style="line-height: 1;"><strong>EQUAL OPPORTUNITY</strong></p> <div style="line-height: 1;">Vast is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Vast is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.</div></div>