Avionics System Test Operations Engineer

Avionics System Test Operations Engineer

Long Beach, California, United States

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.

Responsibilities:

• Work with Responsible Engineers and System owners across the organization to capture test design criteria for avionics test systems.
• Lead test methodology discussions with key stakeholders (e.g. Flight Software, Mission Operations) to develop test procedures for Hardware-in-the-Loop (HITL / HIL) test assets.
• Develop system level test cases, implement them on test systems and validate their outputs with internal stakeholders.
• Day-to-day planning of system test operations, including.
• Develop automation tools (e.g. python, ground software scripts) to increase efficiency and quality of test planning, test execution, data analysis, and verification tracking.
• Serve as first point of contact for anomaly resolution: documentation, driving root cause analysis, disposition, and prevent recurrence activities.
• Support Mission Operator training activities which utilize system test HITL assets.
• Support anomaly resolution activities for issues encountered on-orbit.
• Support design of Hardware-in-the-Loop (HITL / HIL) test assets to provide system level validation of Haven-1 avionics, including closed-loop simulation of relevant test cases.
• Work with subject matter experts to support development, implementation, and verification of interfaces to co-simulation strategies for Hardware-in-the-Loop (HITL) applications.
• Produce documentation for test systems and support handover to test operators.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering, or other hard science.
• 2+ years of post bachelor’s experience working with or developing hardware test systems.
• 2+ years’ experience building and maintaining hardware test systems.
• Experience operating and maintaining Linux systems, including confident use of command line tools.
• Experience with power supplies, electronic loads, oscilloscopes, and digital multimeters.
• Experience designing and/or maintaining computer networks.
• Familiarity with basic electrical and wiring concepts including grounding and electrical safety.
• Demonstrated expertise in root cause analysis methodologies and problem-solving within avionics or complex hardware environments.
• Strong documentation skills, with the ability to produce detailed, accurate technical reports and communicate findings effectively.
• Familiarity with python programming.

Preferred

Skills & Experience:

• Experience working with satellite communications or telemetry systems.
• Experience developing and executing requirement-driven test plans for avionics or electronics systems.
• Experience with automated test systems and hardware-in-the-loop (HITL) environments.
• Familiarity with C++
• Experience with embedded systems design and/or testing.
• Experience with testing protocols and standards relevant to space systems.
• Familiarity with Git, Cmake, and GNU tools.
• Knowledge of CI/CD and issue tracking tools such as the Atlassian Suite (JIRA, Bitbucket, Confluence) and Github.
• Familiarity with Docker (or other containerization software).
• Experience designing and building systems with a modular DAQ ecosystem (e.g. NI, Weidmuller, Bechoff).

Additional Requirements:

• Willingnes…