Senior Mechanical Design Engineer, Avionics

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.

Vast is looking for a Senior Mechanical Design Engineer, Avionics, reporting to the Senior Manager of Mechanical Engineering, Avionics, to support the development of the Avionics, RF, Power, or GNC systems for the design and build of human-rated space stations.

This will be a full-time, exempt position located in our Long Beach location.

Responsibilities:

• Function in a cross disciplinary team and a dynamic design environment
• Support electronics development and trade studies, and create interface definition, specification, and control documents
• Validate requirements through design, test, analysis, or inspection
• Plan and conduct tests, review and interpret data
• Create assembly and/or installation drawings and support hardware builds
• Design avionics enclosure and mounting solutions for high reliability in harsh environments
• Participate in the entire design cycle of flight and mission critical avionics
• Work with the electrical engineering team to design rugged printed circuit board systems
• Complete thermal and structural analyses of these designs
• Create engineering drawings and manage the product configuration of the integrated designs through the product lifecycle
• Review test plans and manage testing and qualification of the product
• Design and/or support integration brackets of avionics components into the space station

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelors of science degree in mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, or other engineering discipline.
• 5+ years of experience with electronics packaging and/or critical electronic components in extreme environments.
• Working experience with 3D CAD programs.
• Experience with GD&T implementation and analysis (ASME Y14.5).

Preferred Skills & Experience:

• Masters of science degree in mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, or other engineering discipline.
• Working experience with NX preferred.
• Experience designing ruggedized electronics enclosures or similar high-performance hardware.
• Familiarity with environmental testing similar to SMC-S-016, and/or MIL-STD-810.
• Familiarity with circuit card design per IPC-A-610 and/or J standards.
• Thermal and structural analysis experience using ANSYS or similar.
• Experience with electrical schematic reviews and electrical schematic capture software (Altium or similar).

Additional Requirements:

• Willingness to work evenings and/or weekends to support critical mission milestones
• Ability to lift up to 25 lbs unassisted

Pay Range:

• Senior Mechanical Design Engineer III: $137,760 - $195,552
• Staff Mechanical Design Engineer IV: $186,960 - $265,392

Pay Range:
California

$137,760-$265,392 USD

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

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 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…