Vast is looking for a
Design Reliability Engineer, reporting to the
Director of Design Reliability,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-time,
exempt position located in our
Long Beach location.
Responsibilities: - Technical Leadership: Lead the technical reviews that shape the future of artificial-gravity space habitats-providing 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 Vast's engineering standards, design guides, and review frameworks-tools 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 scale-ensuring 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:- Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Systems Engineering, or related field.
- 7+ 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, Office of the Chief Engineer, 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.
Pay Range: California
$137,000-$195,000 USD
COMPENSATION AND BENEFITSBase 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 of vacation for exempt staff and up to 10+ days of vacation for non-exempt staff with the ability to cash-out unused vacation annually, paid parental leave, short and long-term disability insurance, life insurance, access to a 401(k) retirement plan, 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 & onsite barista, cold drinks, and dinner meals remaining free of charge, and lunch subsidized as part of Vast's ongoing commitment to providing high-quality meals for employees.
