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 seeking a <strong>Senior Structural & Mechanical Engineer</strong> to own payload mechanical integration and launch vehicle interfaces for a new constellation-ready spacecraft bus — a product line designed to scale to hundreds of spacecraft per year.</p> <p>This will be a full-time, <strong>exempt </strong>position located in our<strong> Long Beach </strong>location. </p> <p><strong>About the role:</strong></p> <p>This is a new spacecraft bus designed from the start for multi-satellite launches and production scaling. The structural challenges are real — a multi-satellite dispenser architecture, a separation system, a primary structure that needs to work across multiple payload configurations, and payload mechanical integration for every customer variant. The dispenser is a key architecture trade: we may design our own or the launch vehicle provider may supply one. Either path has major implications for the launch campaign. You'll drive that decision and own the outcome.</p> <p>You'll work alongside a principal mechanical engineer and collaborate across disciplines — including contributing mass properties and structural margins to the program's spacecraft design and simulation toolchain.</p> <p><strong>Responsibilities: </strong></p> <ul> <li>Work with the principal mechanical engineer to divide responsibilities across structure, mechanisms, and integration as the program scales</li> <li>Design the primary structure for the satellite bus — sized for the launch vehicle fairing envelope</li> <li>Resolve the dispenser trade — build our own vs launch vehicle provider supplies. Either path has major implications for the launch campaign: designing and qualifying our own dispenser, or owning the integration requirements and ensuring LV-supplied hardware meets our needs.</li> <li>Own payload mechanical integration — mounting interfaces, structural accommodation, and mechanical ICDs for every customer payload variant</li> <li>Own the separation system — define the approach, design or select the mechanism, and qualify it</li> <li>Own mass properties — mass budget, center of gravity, moments of inertia across all satellite and payload configurations</li> <li>Perform structural analysis — FEA, static loads, random vibration, shock response spectrum per launch vehicle environmental requirements</li> <li>Plan mechanical integration — how do 10 satellites stack on the dispenser?</li> <li>Ensure launch vehicle Payload User Guide (PUG) compliance for all structural interfaces</li> <li>Coordinate with the solar array team on mechanical integration (boom attachment, deployment clearances)</li> <li>Contribute mass properties and structural margins to the spacecraft design and simulation toolchain</li> <li>Design for manufacturing — the structure must be producible at rate as the program scales to hundreds of spacecraft per year</li> </ul> <p><strong>Minimum Qualifications:</strong></p> <ul> <li>Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related technical discipline</li> <li>5+ years of spacecraft structural design and analysis experience — primary structure, load paths, FEA</li> <li>Payload mechanical integration experience — mounting interfaces, ICDs, structural accommodation for multiple payload types</li> <li>Experience with launch vehicle mechanical interfaces — payload adapters, separation systems, dispensers</li> <li>Mass properties management for flight programs</li> <li>Familiar with launch vehicle environmental requirements (random vibe, shock, static load, acoustic)</li> <li>FEA tool proficiency (NASTRAN, Abaqus, ANSYS, or equivalent)</li> <li>CAD proficiency — you'll be doing detailed design, not just analysis</li> <li>Comfortable making architecture-level structural decisions early in the program with incomplete data</li> </ul> <p><strong>Preferred Skills & Experience:</strong></p> <ul> <li>Able to obtain a security clearance</li> <li>Medium-lift launch vehicle payload integration experience</li> <li>Multi-satellite dispenser design or integration experience</li> <li>Experience with deployable structures (solar arrays, antennas)</li> <li>Composite structure design and manufacturing experience</li> <li>Experience scaling a structural design across multiple flight units</li> <li>Design-for-manufacturing experience — optimizing structures for producibility at rate</li> </ul><div class="content-pay-transparency"><div class="pay-input"><div class="title">Pay Range: California</div><div class="pay-range"><span>$137,760</span><span class="divider">—</span><span>$195,552 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 employ