Materials and Processes Engineer, Avionics

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 Materials and Processes Engineer, Avionics, reporting to the Manager of Materials and Processes, to support the development of the systems that will be required for the design and build of artificial-gravity human-rated space stations. 

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

Responsibilities: 

• Support the materials selection, manufacturing process development, and supplier development for avionics materials used on an artificial-gravity space station
• Develop and qualify new materials and processes in the areas of soldering, conformal coating, potting, wire bonding, etc.
• Perform root cause and corrective action analyses to solve problems encountered with internal or vendor manufacturing processes
• Write material and process specifications to procure or manufacture avionics assemblies 
• Generate and execute test plans and review materials to ensure compliance to standards

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor of Science degree in materials science, materials engineering, electrical engineering, chemical engineering, or related technical discipline  
• 2+ years of professional, industry, or academic experience in materials engineering

Preferred Skills & Experience:

• Materials of Science degree in materials engineering or related discipline
• Demonstrable knowledge in parts, materials and process selection, manufacturing support, and qualification of electronic materials for air or space hardware 
• The ideal candidate should be strong in at least one of the following three areas and have some knowledge of the others: 
• Printed circuit boards and electronic components 
• Surface mount technology (solders and reflow, conformal coatings)
• Harnessing 
• RF Systems 
• Batteries 
• Electrical and RF properties of materials 
• Mechanical, thermal, and environmental reliability testing of electronic systems and components 
• Knowledge of IPC-J-STD-001 Class 3, NASA-STD-8739 series, IPC-STD-2222 Class 3, IPC-STD-6012 Class 3, or industry equivalent  
• Strong academic foundation coupled with hands-on experience

Additional Requirements:

• Ability to travel up to 10% of the time
• Willingness to work overtime, or weekends to support critical mission milestones
• Ability to lift up to 25lbs unassisted

Pay Ranges: 

• $135,000 - $170,000

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY