Senior Waste Management Engineer, Space Life Support Systems

At Vast, our mission is to contribute to a future where billions of people are living and thriving in space. We are building artificial gravity space stations, allowing long-term stays in space without the adverse effects of zero-gravity. Our initial crewed space habitat will be Haven-1, scheduled to be the world’s first commercial space station when it launches into low earth orbit in August 2025. 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) Senior Waste Management Engineer, Space Life Support Systems, reporting to the Director of Life Support Systems, to support the development of the systems that will be required for the design and build of artificial-gravity human-rated space stations. Use this space to describe the role and sell the candidate on the cool stuff they would get to work on. 

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

Responsibilities: 

• Own the design dev, build, test and flight of all waste management systems for our space stations, from space toilet to water recovery from human waste to trash management
• Iterate on manufacturing processes and development testing in a fast-paced environment
• Own the project delivery timeline from early design through production, launch, and orbit insertion
• Perform systems engineering tasks and fluid analyses
• Lead design reviews internally and externally with suppliers and customers
• Work with interdisciplinary stakeholders to ensure the component will integrate with the necessary avionics, software, and mission operations systems
• Make sure that all designs are manufacturable and reliable
• Bring technical excellence to everything you do

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in an engineering or science discipline
• 5+ years of experience working with fluid or environmental control systems or components
• 3+ years of hands-on hardware experience performing fabrication, assembly and/or testing

Preferred Skills & Experience:

• Can-do attitude to do the ‘dirty job’ for commercial space waste management systems
• Master's degree in an engineering discipline
• Proactive problem-solving skills such as failure analysis, root cause investigation, and design of experiment creation
• Ability to perform trade studies using first principles and engineering fundamentals to make clear recommendations even with partial information
• Experience with rotating machinery
• Experience with soft goods
• Experience with waste management systems at zero-g
• Experienced in NX
• Solid understanding and application of geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T) and tolerance stack-up analysis
• Experience with structural analysis methods (hand calcs, FEMAP, ANSYS) in order to optimize hardware to strength requirements as well as to evaluate for life and fracture
• Knowledge of metallic and fluid system manufacturing techniques, processes, equipment, and other processes such as machining, welding, brazing, tube bending, etcetera
• Able to work well in an integrated collaborative team environment, including frequent interactions with technicians, other engineers, and managers
• Highly self-motivated with strong organizational and written/oral communication skills – able to prioritize and execute tasks in a high-pressure environment with the ongoing drive for continuous improvement in all aspects of work

Additional Requirements:

• Ability to travel up to 50% of the time
• Willingness to work evenings and/or weekends to support critical mission milestones
• Ability to lift up to 25lbs unassisted
• Specific certifications, as appropriate

Pay Range: 

• Senior Engineer L3: $135,000-$170,000

Salary Range: California$135,000—$170,000 USDCOMPENSATION 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, flexible paid time off for exempt staff and up to 15 days of vacation for non-exempt staff, paid parental leave, short and long-term disability insurance, life insuranc