Senior Electrical Design Engineer

Vast; Long Beach (CA); On-site; USD 137,760 - 195,552; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

100% medical, dental, and vision coverage

Generous paid time off

401(k) retirement plan

Healthy food perks

Job summary

Vast in Long Beach is looking for a Senior Electrical Design Engineer, responsible for developing systems for artificial-gravity human-rated space stations. You'll perform detailed engineering design and analysis, ensuring that systems are reliable and efficient.

The role requires a Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and at least 5 years of avionics experience. Competitive compensation includes salary and comprehensive benefits such as medical coverage, equity, and generous PTO.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering or other engineering discipline.
• 5+ years of experience with avionics design, analysis, and/or unit level testing.
• Experience with avionics test equipment such as oscilloscopes, multimeters, current probes.

Responsibilities

• Act as responsible engineer for flight hardware from conception through flight operations.
• Perform design analysis, schematic capture, and circuit board design.
• Analyze and troubleshoot electronic assemblies and identify opportunities for improvement.

Skills

Avionics design

Circuit board design

Problem-solving

Electronics manufacturing

Education

Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering

Tools

Altium

NX CAD

Oscilloscope

Multimeter

Job description

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.

Senior Electrical Design Engineer, Avionics

Reporting to the Director, Avionics, the Senior Electrical Design Engineer, Avionics will support the development of systems required for designing and building artificial‑gravity human‑rated space stations.

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

Responsibilities

• Act as responsible engineer for flight hardware, from conception through build, qualification, flight integration, and ultimately flight operations.
• Perform component selection, design analysis, schematic capture, circuit board design, prototyping, board bring‑up, debugging, circuit validation, and design documentation for electrical designs.
• Analyze and troubleshoot electronic assemblies, define new processes, design circuits/fixtures/tools, and identify opportunities for improvement in both products and processes.
• Support mission operations by providing real‑time input during flight, completing data reviews, monitoring hardware performance, and working with partners to simplify operation of our avionics systems.
• Work with experts from other teams and departments to ensure that fielded systems perform their function while being efficient, manufacturable, and reliable.
• Define acceptance testing and qualification requirements of new and existing hardware, perform development and qualification testing to prove out design, and formally document test results.
• Travel to launch sites for testing and/or operations.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering or other engineering discipline.
• 5+ years of experience with avionics design, analysis, and/or unit level testing.
• Experience with avionics test equipment such as oscilloscopes, multimeters, current probes.
• Experience with analog, digital, or mixed‑signal multi‑layer PCB design.

Preferred Skills & Experience

• Experience with PCBA design and Altium or similar software.
• Ability to creatively solve problems and assess risk.
• Understand electrical schematics and electronics manufacturing to analyze and improve test coverage.
• Hands‑on experience with sizing, installing and troubleshooting various electronic components.
• Experience with NX or similar CAD software.
• Competence with electrical test equipment (multimeters, oscilloscopes, network analyzers, power supplies, etc.).
• Strong sense of accountability and integrity with excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to work in a fast‑paced, autonomously driven, and demanding atmosphere.

Additional Requirements

• Ability to travel up to 10% of the time to support launch campaigns.

Pay Range

• Senior Electrical Design Engineer: $137,760 – $195,552
• Staff Electrical Design Engineer: $162,360 – $230,472

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.