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(n) Principal Manufacturing Engineer, reporting to the Vice President, Manufacturing to support the development of the systems that will be required 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:
- Lead the design and continuous Improvement of manufacturing processes and production systems across the factory, with focus on flow, execution, scalability, and business impact.
- Identify, prioritize, and eliminate bottlenecks across manufacturing, integration, test, inspection, material movement, and production control.
- Drive the transition from prototype builds to repeatable low-volume production while maintaining speed and flexibility.
- Develop scalable operating processes, ownership models, and execution rhythms that improve factory performance.
- Own the strategy and integration for ERP, MRP, MES, PLS, mBOM, routing, work instruction, and production control systems.
- Serve as the technical and business process owner for key production workflows, including MRR/PRR, manufacturing inputs to CDR, material flow, kitting, staging, inventory accuracy, and production readiness controls.
- Leverage production data, schedule performance, NC trends, and factory observations to identify issues and drive corrective actions.
- Serve as business process owner for standardization across
- Partner with design, quality, supply chain, planning, production, test, and integration teams to solve cross-functional execution problems.
- Challenge existing manufacturing and operational assumptions using data, first-principles thinking, and direct factory engagement.
Minimum Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or a related STEM discipline.
- 10+ years of manufacturing engineering experience supporting complex hardware development, production execution, or factory operations.
- Experience improving manufacturing processes, production systems, material flow, or factory execution across multiple products, programs, or work centers.
- Demonstrated advanced experience supporting the transition from prototype development to repeatable production or low-rate manufacturing.
- Experience owning or improving production business processes such as MRR/PRR, manufacturing inputs to CDR, production readiness, mBOMs, routings, work instructions, or production control.
- Experience working with ERP, MRP, MES, PLS, or similar manufacturing execution and production control systems.
- Experience identifying bottlenecks, analyzing factory performance, and driving improvements in throughput, schedule reliability, quality, or cost.
- Experience resolving complex manufacturing, quality, material, or production execution issues using structured problem-solving methods.
- Experience collaborating across manufacturing, production, design engineering, quality, supply chain, planning, test, integration, and program management teams.
- Strong understanding of aerospace or complex hardware manufacturing operations, including assembly, integration, test, inspection, fabrication, machining, welding, automation, or related production processes.
Preferred Skills & Experience:
- Experience building or transforming manufacturing organizations during a major scale-up, factory ramp, or operating model change.
- Strong understanding of how engineering release, configuration management, change control, and production execution processes interact in complex hardware environments.
- Experience defining system requirements or business requirements for manufacturing tools, digital workflows, production dashboards, or factory data infrastructure.
- Demonstrated ability to turn ambiguous factory problems into clear operating models, decision frameworks, and scalable execution processes.
- Experience influencing senior technical, operational, and program leaders across organizational boundaries without direct authority.
- Experience developing executive-level recommendations, business cases, trade studies, or implementation plans for major factory improvement initiatives.
- Strong ability to balance process discipline with speed, flexibility, and engineering iteration in a fast-moving development environment.
- Experience working in human-rated, safety-critical, mission-critical, or highly regulated hardware programs.
- Expertise with Lean, Six Sigma, Theory of Constraints, or similar operational excellence methods applied in practical factory environments.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with ability to simplify complex technical and operational topics for broad audiences.
Additional Requirements:
- Ability to lift up to 25 pounds unassisted.
- Ability to work on the manufacturing floor for extended periods supporting production activities.
- Willingness to work evenings, weekends, and travel as necessary to support critical program milestones.
- Must be able to obtain and maintain any required export control authorizations.
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: 100% 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.
U.S. EXPORT CONTROL COMPLIANCE STATUS
The person hired will have access to information and items subject to U.S. export controls, and therefore, must either be a “U.S. person” as defined by
22 C.F.R. § 120.62 or otherwise eligible for deemed export licensing. This status includes U.S. citizens, U.S. nationals, lawful permanent residents (green card holders), and asylees and refugees with such status granted, not pending.
EQUAL OPPORTUNITY
Vast is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Vast is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.