Senior Manager, Certification

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 Manager, Certification, reporting to the Vice President of Mission Management, to support the development of the systems that will be required for the design and build of artificial-gravity human-rated space stations. 

This person will lead certification strategy implementation for Haven-1 and ensure the program maintains compliance with all certification requirements required for human spaceflight operations.

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

Responsibilities: 

• Lead the execution of the Haven-1 certification strategy.
• Manage certification engineers responsible for requirement verification and compliance tracking.
• Coordinate with systems engineering to ensure certification requirements are properly allocated and verified.
• Develop certification artifacts including:
• Compliance matrices
• Verification plans
• Certification data packages
• Support program milestone reviews including FRR and certification reviews.
• Work with internal stakeholders across engineering, safety, mission operations, and test teams.
• Work with external stakeholders including customers and space agencies
• Escalate certification risks and develop resolution strategies.
• Support certification strategy development for future Haven Station modules.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering or related field.
• 8+ years aerospace engineering experience.
• Experience with spacecraft verification, certification, or mission assurance.

Preferred Skills & Experience:

• Experience with NASA standards or commercial human spaceflight programs.
• Experience supporting certification reviews and flight readiness processes.
• Ability to work effectively in a team environment
• Ability to make independent judgments with limited information
• Communication skills for relaying data (verbally and in-writing) between other employees, vendors, and customers
• Comfortable working in a high-stress environment balancing several projects at any given time, and the flexibility to adjust for abrupt changes in strategic direction.

Additional Requirements:

• Ability to travel up to 20% of the time
• Willingness to support critical mission milestones, including evenings/weekends

Pay Range: California$164,000—$250,000 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, 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.  

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