Systems Engineer

Vast is developing next-generation space stations and space infrastructure using an incremental, hardware-rich, and low-cost approach. Vast is rapidly developing its multi-module Haven Station 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. 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 in 2027, followed by additional Haven modules. Additionally, the company recently announced Vast Satellite, a high-power satellite product line leveraging its space station components and the heritage of Haven Demo.

Headquartered in Long Beach, California, and with more than 1,000 employees and over a billion dollars in private capital, Vast has built the facilities required to manufacture and operate America’s next space station. The company plans to develop future habitats and systems for the Moon and Mars, dedicated space stations for government partners, and other crewed systems that will unlock the expanding long-term space economy.

Vast is seeking a Systems Engineer, Spacecraft Design & Simulation to own the spacecraft simulation toolchain that is the foundation of our mission factory — the software infrastructure that will enable us to scale from our first 10-satellite demo launch to hundreds of spacecraft per year. 

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

About the role:

We're building a mission factory — software infrastructure that dramatically reduces the time from customer contract to payload on orbit. The foundation is a simulation and digital twin toolchain that serves as the primary engineering record. Requirements, budgets, design parameters, and trade study results all live in this toolchain. It includes spacecraft power/thermal/ADCS simulation, orbital constellation analysis, communications link budgets, and actuator trade studies. This is model-based systems engineering as it should work — requirements, budgets, and design parameters live in executable models that compute and validate, not in static documents. A working prototype exists today — you'll evaluate it, determine whether to extend it or redesign it, and own the toolchain as we scale from our first 10-satellite demo launch to hundreds of spacecraft per year.

This is a spacecraft systems engineering role, not a software engineering role. You define the governing equations, boundary conditions, and expected behavior for each model. You build and maintain a rigorous validation suite — hand calculations, independent tool cross-checks, and edge case analysis — that serves as the quality gate for every change. We use AI code generation tools to accelerate implementation, but the engineering judgment, validation methodology, and physics expertise are yours.