Vast develops commercial space stations to support sustained human activity, research, and manufacturing in low-Earth orbit and beyond.
<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>Principal Electrical Engineer, Avionics</strong> reporting to the<strong> VP, Avionics Engineering </strong>to support the development of the systems that will be required for the design and build of human-rated space stations. As a Principal Electrical Engineer, Avionics, you will be responsible for developing, testing, and maintaining avionics hardware for our state-of-the-art commercial space station. </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: </strong></p> <ul> <li>Lead a team of 2-3 engineers to deliver products on time.</li> <li>Partner with software, mechanical, thermal, manufacturing teams to rapidly design, develop and test highly reliable electronics for our state-of-the-art commercial space station. </li> <li>Perform component selection, design analysis, schematic capture, circuit board design, prototyping, board bring up, debugging, circuit validation, and design documentation for electrical designs.</li> <li>Analyze and troubleshoot electronic assemblies, define new processes, design circuits/fixtures/tools, and identify opportunities for improvement in both products and processes.</li> <li>Support or act as responsible engineer for flight hardware, from conception through build, qualification, flight integration, and ultimately flight operations.</li> <li>Support build and process improvement through troubleshooting build problems and work to simplify and streamline recurring work to enable higher reliability of the avionics hardware. </li> <li>Support mission operations by providing real-time input during flight, completing data reviews, monitoring hardware performance, and working with partners to simplify operation of our avionics systems.</li> <li>Work with experts from other teams and departments to ensure that fielded systems perform their function while being efficient, manufacturable, and reliable.</li> <li>Define acceptance testing and qualification requirements of new and existing hardware, perform development and qualification testing to prove out design, and formally document test results.</li> <li>Travel to launch sites for testing and/or operations</li> </ul> <p><strong>Minimum Qualifications:</strong></p> <ul> <li>Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering or other engineering discipline.</li> <li>12+ years of experience with avionics design, analysis, and/or unit level testing.</li> <li>1+ years of experience leading a team of engineers.</li> <li>Experience with avionics test equipment such as oscilloscopes, multimeters, current probes.</li> <li>Experience with analog, digital, or mixed signal multi-layer PCB design</li> </ul> <p><strong>Preferred Skills & Experience:</strong></p> <ul> <li>Experience with PCBA design and Altium or similar software.</li> <li>Comfortable communicating technical topics to a variety of audiences.</li> <li>Ability to creatively solve problems and weigh against multi-disciplinary requirements together while assessing risk and making design and development decisions. </li> <li>Understanding of electrical schematics and electronics manufacturing to analyze and improve test coverage.</li> <li>Hands-on experience with sizing, installing and troubleshooting various electronic components.</li> <li>Experience with wire harness design and build, including associated sub-components.</li> <li>Experience with NX or similar CAD software.</li> <li>Competence with electrical test equipment (multimeters, oscilloscopes, network analyzers, power supplies, etc.)</li> <li>Creative problem solver that can bring multiple disciplines together with the ability to assess risk and make design and development decisions without all available data. </li> <li>Self-motivated with strong learning, multi-tasking, organizational, communication and documentation skills.</li> <li>Strong sense of accountability and integrity with excellent written and verbal communication skills.</li> <li>Ability to work in a fast paced, autonomously driven, and demanding atmosphere</li> </ul><div class="content-pay-transparency"><div class="pay-input"><div class="title">Pay Range: California</div><div class="pay-range"><span>$186,960</span><span class="divider">—</span><span>$265,392 USD</span></div></div></div><div class="content-conclusion"><p style="line-height: 1;"><strong>COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS<br></strong><br>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: medical, dental, and vision coverage for employees and dependents, generous paid time off; up to 20+ days