Senior CMF Designer

About the company

Vast develops commercial space stations to support sustained human activity, research, and manufacturing in low-Earth orbit and beyond.

About this role

<div class="content-intro"><p>Vast is developing next-generation <strong>space stations and space infrastructure</strong> using an incremental, hardware-rich, and low-cost approach. Vast is rapidly developing its multi-module Haven Station 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. 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 2027, followed by additional Haven modules. Additionally, the company recently announced <strong>Vast Satellite</strong>, a high-power satellite product line leveraging its space station components and the heritage of Haven Demo.<br><br>Headquartered in<strong> Long Beach, California</strong>, and with more than 1,000 employees and over a billion dollars in private capital, Vast has built the facilities required to manufacture and operate America’s next space station. The company plans to develop future habitats and systems for the Moon and Mars, dedicated space stations for government partners, and other crewed systems that will unlock the expanding long-term space economy.</p></div><p>Vast is looking for a <strong>Senior</strong> <strong>Color, Material, and Finish Designer</strong>, reporting to the <strong>Senior Manager, Industrial Design</strong>, to lead and own the development of optimized materials, colors, and details that will be required for the design and build of artificial-gravity human-rated space stations.</p> <p>You will be working closely with industrial designers, material engineers, soft good technicians and supply chain to define the experience of our astronauts onboard our space stations such as eating, sleeping, exercise and more via cutting edge materials. You will own every aspect of the CMF design process end-to-end. This includes spaceflight material heritage research, vendor collaboration, mood board creation and visual strategy, ground up material testing and development, and final material production.</p> <p>This will be a <strong>full-time</strong>, <strong>exempt</strong> position located in our <strong>Long Beach </strong>location.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Responsibilities:&nbsp;</strong></p> <ul> <li>Own and evolve the Color, Material, and Finish (CMF) design strategy for the space station experience, ensuring materials, colors, and details add value to the astronaut experience while meeting engineering requirements, certification standards, and human-rated safety criteria (e.g., flammability, off-gassing/toxicity, cleanability)</li> <li>Apply deep expertise in design specifications and manufacturing requirements to ideate, visualize, and develop color, material, and graphic design concepts for transportation/aerospace-grade products, with minimal oversight</li> <li>Lead cross-functional collaboration and negotiation with manufacturing, suppliers, and engineering throughout all phases of development, driving final CMF designs to production in support of Haven-1, Haven-2 and future program milestones</li> <li>Build and maintain a CMF materials library and design standards/guidelines that scale across current and future Vast programs</li> <li>Source, vet, and manage a network of vendors and fabricators, independently evaluating tradeoffs in cost, performance, and innovation</li> <li>Partner with outside test agencies to validate new and innovative materials against aerospace and human-rated requirements, owning the qualification process</li> <li>Present CMF strategy, rationale, and design direction to design and engineering leadership and cross-functional stakeholders, including at key program milestones</li> <li>Identify and proactively de-risk material and finish decisions that could impact program schedule, cost, or certification</li> </ul> <p><strong>Minimum Qualifications:</strong></p> <ul> <li>Bachelor's degree in Industrial Design, Transportation Design, Material Science, or equivalent experience</li> <li>6+ years of related professional CMF design experience, including demonstrated ownership of CMF programs from concept through production</li> <li>Proven track record of leading CMF design strategy independently on complex, highly engineered products</li> </ul> <p><strong>Preferred Skills &amp; Experience:</strong></p> <ul> <li>Prior CMF experience in aerospace, automotive, transportation, or other highly regulated/certified product environments; direct exposure to human-rated or spaceflight hardware standards a strong plus</li> <li>Demonstrated ability to build physical prototypes to express unique design concepts, and to lead others in doing the same</li> <li>Strong conceptual design skills — sketching, modeling, mock-ups, and visual storytelling — applied at a strategic as well as hands-on level</li> <li>Track record of driving ideation and concept generation under tight timelines and shifting priorities</li> <li>Advanced proficiency across relevant design software (e.g., Adobe Creative Suite, CAD/3D visualization tools) and general technical fluency across enterprise software</li> <li>Experience creating and managing RFPs, POs, and facilities work orders within an ERP system, including basic budget ownership</li> <li>Demonstrated experience mentoring or leading other designers, formally or informally</li> <li>Excellent judgment and ability to make sound decisions independently with limited or ambiguous information</li> <li>Strong communication skills, including the ability to present and defend design decisions to senior leadership, vendors, and cross-functional partners</li> <li>Logical, strategic approach to problem-solving, balanced with hands-on craft sensibility</li> <li>Ability to read and understand architectural/facilities floor plans</li> <li>Comfortable operating in