Manager, Structures Manufacturing Engineering

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 Demos 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 worlds 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 Manager Structures Manufacturing Engineering reporting to the Senior Director of Manufacturing 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-timeexempt position located in our Long Beachlocation.

Responsibilities

• Lead mentor and grow a high-performing team of manufacturing engineers and technicians; establish skills matrices drive competency development and build succession plans for critical roles.
• Develop stabilize and continuously improve manufacturing processes for metallic aerospace structures (welding trimming rolling bending shearing and related operations).
• Design implement and qualify welding cells fabrication tooling fixtures jigs and production workstations for primary structure manufacturing.
• Own manufacturing planning including creation and updates of work instructions routings inspection steps and ERP/MRP configuration.
• Drive root-cause analysis and corrective actions for manufacturing non-conformances in partnership with Quality and Design Engineering.
• Collaborate with Design Engineering to assess and improve designs for manufacturability and to support smooth transitions from development to production.
• Identify evaluate and introduce new manufacturing technologies and automation solutions to increase throughput quality and efficiency.
• Lead the build and inspection processes for structural assembly ensuring compliance with all safety quality and delivery requirements.
• Develop and optimize production floor layouts capacity models and product flow to support schedule commitments and vehicle delivery timelines.
• Scope justify and implement capital equipment facility and tooling upgrades required to support long-term manufacturing scalability.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelors degree in Engineering or comparable STEM field.
• Experience working in fast-paced development environments with evolving designs and requirements.
• Extensive experience developing or improving manufacturing processes tools or products particularly for metallic structures or assemblies.
• Proven experience managing a product or product line across multiple workcenters and/or departments.
• Experience leading manufacturing through development-to-production transitions for new products or programs.
• Demonstrated ability to resolve non-conformances and drive effective root-cause and corrective actions.
• 3 Years in a manufacturing environment.

Preferred Skills & Experience

• Prior leadership experience managing engineers in a high-performance environment.
• Strong understanding of welding and fabrication processes with the ability to provide clear design feedback.
• Experience with aerospace tooling or flight design and fabrication from concept through production.
• Proficiency with CAD systems (NX Teamcenter).
• Strong understanding of GD&T and ability to interpret complex engineering drawings.
• Experience working with and defining requirements for ERP MRP and MES systems.
• Hands-on experience with aerospace welding processes (TIG Plasma repair techniques).
• Familiarity with aerospace standards production documentation Non-destructive evaluation techniques and quality systems.
• 6 years in aerospace manufacturing environments.

Additional Requirements

• Willingness to work evenings or weekends to support critical program milestones.
• Ability to be on the production floor regularly to support processes troubleshooting and team development

Pay Range:

• Manager Structures Manufacturing Engineering: $ $135000 - $180000
• Senior Manager Structures Manufacturing Engineering: $159000 - $209000

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY