Staff Design Reliability Engineer

Long Beach, NY - USA

Monthly Salary: $ 159100 - 205800

Posted on: 16 hours ago

Vacancies: 1 Vacancy

Job Summary

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 initial crewed space habitat will be Haven-1 scheduled to be the worlds first commercial space station when it launches into low-Earth orbit in 2026. It is part of our stepping stone approach to continuous human presence in team isall-in committed to executing our mission safely and on 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 Design Reliability Engineer reporting to the Senior Manager Design Reliabilityto 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:

Technical Leadership: Lead the technical reviews that shape the future of artificial-gravity space habitatsproviding clear decisive guidance during milestone design reviews and major risk gates.
Oversee qualification and test completeness for flight systems ensuring our test campaigns are robust disciplined and aligned with human-rated reliability.
Bring deep engineering intuition to test campaigns identifying risks early and helping teams converge on safe resilient solutions.
Evaluate complex design and operational changes safeguarding technical integrity as the system evolves.
Design Excellence:Serve as the architect and guardian of Vasts engineering standards design guides and review frameworkstools that enable fast confident decision-making across the company.
Make engineering best practices accessible and actionable especially for engineers moving rapidly under ambitious program timelines.
Support and elevate engineering teams across the organization by bringing broad experience in design build cycles integration and test.
Turn organizational knowledge into lasting guidance by capturing lessons learned and strengthening future standards.
Process Ownership:Build and steward the processes that ensure engineering rigor at scaleensuring designs meet standards reviews are comprehensive and changes are consistently implemented.
Own and continuously refine design review templates reliability checklists and internal design guides.
Track design maturity and compliance across the station and vehicle architecture ensuring nothing slips through the cracks.
Build tools frameworks and automation that empower engineers to explore design trade-offs and risks with clarity and speed.
Cross-Functional Influence:Work across all facets of the engineering organization to improve reliability.
Partner with configuration and change management so that every update to flight hardware is intentional reviewed and fully understood.
Partner with the internal software team to ensure system data configuration details and design decisions are well organized and accessible.

Minimum Qualifications:

Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering Aerospace Engineering Systems Engineering or related field.
10 years of experience in responsible engineering design ownership systems integration test engineering or reliability-focused development.
Demonstrated experience conducting design reviews qualification reviews or major change assessments.
Strong communicator and collaborative leader with high emotional intelligence diplomacy and the ability to influence at all levels.
Resilient curious and committed to continuous learning in fast-paced or high-pressure environments.

Preferred Skills & Experience:

Experience in Responsible Engineering Systems Engineering or Reliability Engineering roles on complex aerospace systems.
Hands-on experience designing assembling integrating or testing hardware.
Background with spacecraft aircraft launch vehicles or other mission- or safety-critical systems.
Familiarity with fracture control reliability methodologies or human-rated hardware standards.
Experience creating engineering standards review templates or technical guidance frameworks.
Strong scripting and data analysis skills (Python MATLAB Excel) and familiarity with visualization tools (e.g. Tableau).
Knowledge of manufacturing processes materials selection and hardware qualification pathways.
Strong systems-level intuition and the ability to anticipate and articulate risks early.

Additional Requirements:

Willingness to work overtime or weekends to support critical mission milestones.

Salary Range: California

$159100 - $205800 USD

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

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 flexible paid time off for exempt staff and up to 10 days of vacation for non-exempt staff paid parental leave short and long-term disability insurance life insurance access to a 401(k) retirement plan One Medical membership 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 cold drinks and dinner meals remaining free of charge and lunch subsidized as part of Vasts ongoing commitment to providing high-quality meals for employees.

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

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.

Required Experience:

Staff IC

This will be a full-time exempt position located in our Long Beach location.

Responsibilities:

Technical Leadership: Lead the technical reviews that shape the future of artificial-gravity space habitatsproviding clear decisive guidance during milestone design reviews and major risk gates.
Oversee qualification and test completeness for flight systems ensuring our test campaigns are robust disciplined and aligned with human-rated reliability.
Bring deep engineering intuition to test campaigns identifying risks early and helping teams converge on safe resilient solutions.
Evaluate complex design and operational changes safeguarding technical integrity as the system evolves.
Design Excellence:Serve as the architect and guardian of Vasts engineering standards design guides and review frameworkstools that enable fast confident decision-making across the company.
Make engineering best practices accessible and actionable especially for engineers moving rapidly under ambitious program timelines.
Support and elevate engineering teams across the organization by bringing broad experience in design build cycles integration and test.
Turn organizational knowledge into lasting guidance by capturing lessons learned and strengthening future standards.
Process Ownership:Build and steward the processes that ensure engineering rigor at scaleensuring designs meet standards reviews are comprehensive and changes are consistently implemented.
Own and continuously refine design review templates reliability checklists and internal design guides.
Track design maturity and compliance across the station and vehicle architecture ensuring nothing slips through the cracks.
Build tools frameworks and automation that empower engineers to explore design trade-offs and risks with clarity and speed.
Cross-Functional Influence:Work across all facets of the engineering organization to improve reliability.
Partner with configuration and change management so that every update to flight hardware is intentional reviewed and fully understood.
Partner with the internal software team to ensure system data configuration details and design decisions are well organized and accessible.

Minimum Qualifications:

Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering Aerospace Engineering Systems Engineering or related field.
10 years of experience in responsible engineering design ownership systems integration test engineering or reliability-focused development.
Demonstrated experience conducting design reviews qualification reviews or major change assessments.
Strong communicator and collaborative leader with high emotional intelligence diplomacy and the ability to influence at all levels.
Resilient curious and committed to continuous learning in fast-paced or high-pressure environments.

Preferred Skills & Experience:

Experience in Responsible Engineering Systems Engineering or Reliability Engineering roles on complex aerospace systems.
Hands-on experience designing assembling integrating or testing hardware.
Background with spacecraft aircraft launch vehicles or other mission- or safety-critical systems.
Familiarity with fracture control reliability methodologies or human-rated hardware standards.
Experience creating engineering standards review templates or technical guidance frameworks.
Strong scripting and data analysis skills (Python MATLAB Excel) and familiarity with visualization tools (e.g. Tableau).
Knowledge of manufacturing processes materials selection and hardware qualification pathways.
Strong systems-level intuition and the ability to anticipate and articulate risks early.

Additional Requirements: