Senior Radiation Effects Engineer

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.

We are looking for a Senior Radiation Effects Engineer
, reporting to the Senior Director, Avionics Hardware Development
, 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, non-exempt position located in our Long Beach location.

• Coordinate and oversee proton beam and heavy ion tests in support of Vast avionics development.
• Guide the development of Radiation Effects and survivability requirements for Vast spacecraft.
• Guide the derivation and distribution of in-space environmental requirements.
• Tailor industry standards such as EEE-INST-002 and NASA 8739.11 for Vast spacecraft and missions.
• Ensure the Radiation Effects team meets project deadlines and company objectives.
• Foster a strong interdisciplinary relationship with other teams that rely on the Radiation Effects team to be successful.
• Exemplify a culture of excellence, extreme ownership, and safety. Enable engineers to take responsibility for the system level impact of their work.

• Bachelor’s Degree in electrical engineering, physics, or related discipline.
• 4+ years of experience working in Radiation Effects or similar role.

• Ms or PhD in electrical engineering, physics, or related discipline.
• Experience with radiation shielding analysis and tools such as FASTRAD.
• Experience with radiation environments modeling and dose analysis and tools such as SPENVIS, OMERE.
• Experience with in-space charging for spacecraft, plasma, and atomic oxygen.
• Prior experience in an electronics, semiconductors, or electrical systems design role.
• Experience with software development in Matlab, Python, etc.
• Experience with computer architecture & design.
• Experience developing infrastructure for radiation test (procedures, reporting, equipment, etc).
• Strong sense of accountability and integrity with excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to teach people of a multitude of education and industry backgrounds about Radiation Effects.

• Ability to travel up to 20% of the time.
• Willingness to work overtime, or weekends to support critical mission milestones.
• Ability to lift up to 25 lbs unassisted.

Senior Radiation Effects Engineer: $147,600 - $209,520
Staff Radiation Effects Engineer: $175,480 - $249,096
Pay Range:
California
$147,600—$249,096 USD

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 parental leave; short- and long-term disability insurance; life insurance; access to a 401(k) retirement plan;
Class Pass credits; personalized mental healthcare…