Head of Special Programs

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 Head of Special Programs, reporting to the Chief Policy Officer, to lead all national security focused business development for Haven-1 and future Vast systems. This role will lead customer engagement, opportunity development, capture strategy, and partnership efforts that advance Vast's initiatives to operate the world's leading in-space infrastructure in support of national security objectives.

This will be a full-time, exempt position located in our Washington D.C. location.

Responsibilities:

• Strategic Leadership
  • Develop and execute a comprehensive national security market strategy aligned with Vast's revenue and mission objectives.
  • Collaborate with Leadership, Engineering, Marketing, Legal, Communications, and other internal teams to ensure alignment between national security customer needs and station development priorities.
  • Coordinate the preparation and delivery of space-relevant national security threat briefings to support strategic planning and defense engagement activities.
  • Lead internal planning for national security opportunity prioritization, capture strategy, and pipeline development.

• Business Development and Capture Execution
  • Lead customer engagement across opportunity identification, mission scoping, capability briefings, and early concept development.
  • Identify, shape, and advance opportunities for national security use of Vast systems across crewed missions, experimentation, training, test and evaluation, and payload hosting.
  • Lead proposal development and coordinate cross functional contributions from engineering, program management, legal, and operations teams.
  • Manage pipeline development, forecasting, and reporting across all national security accounts.
  • Negotiate and close contracts for national security missions and associated services.

• External Representation
  • Represent Vast at national security, aerospace, and space industry events where defense and government stakeholders are present.
  • Deliver presentations, participate in panels, and provide senior-level briefings that communicate the capabilities and value of Vast stations.
  • Support Communications and Marketing in the development and delivery of defense-related public materials, messaging, and engagement strategies.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in engineering, physics, aerospace, business, or a related field.
• 10+ years of relevant experience including substantial work in Department of Defense business development, capture management, special programs, or defense contracting.
• Deep understanding of DoD procurement and contract structures, including IDIQ, OTA, FFP, CPFF, Programs of Record, and SBIR Phase III.
• Demonstrated experience leading efforts that secured Programs of Record, including strategy, teaming, and proposal.
• Excellent communication, analytical, collaboration, and interpersonal skills.
• Strong technical understanding and ability to communicate complex systems to defense audiences.
• Excellent communication, analytical, collaboration, and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to operate independently, prioritize effectively, and manage multiple efforts simultaneously in a fast paced environment.

Preferred Skills & Experience:

• Master's degree in engineering, science, business, or a national security discipline.
• Experience working with the U.S. Space Force, Space Development Agency, Defense Innovation Unit, DARPA, Air Force, or similar organizations.
• Strong understanding of the flexible acquisition approaches DoD uses to explore new technologies, support research and experimentation, and rapidly evaluate emerging commercial capabilities.
• Ability to work in classified environments.

Additional Requirements:

• Ability to travel up to 30% of the time
• TS/SCI with CI Polygraph.

Pay Range:
Washington D.C.

$235,000-$294,000 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…