Senior / Staff Build Reliability Engineer (Avionics)

Vast; Long Beach (CA); On-site; USD 138,283 - 230,472; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Company equity

Medical, dental, and vision coverage

Paid time off (PTO)

401(k) retirement plan

ClassPass credits

Spring Health

Job summary

Vast in Long Beach, CA is seeking a Senior / Staff Build Reliability Engineer (Avionics) to support the reliability of flight avionics hardware across the product lifecycle. This is a full-time, exempt role located in our Long Beach location.

You will own reliability, partner with Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, Supply Chain, and Mission Assurance to ensure robust, scalable quality plans, define readiness criteria, and drive risk mitigation across programs.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in an engineering discipline or equivalent experience.
• 12+ years of experience in quality, manufacturing, reliability, or design in aerospace, defense, or high-reliability hardware environments.
• Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional initiatives with executive visibility and influence technical direction across organizations.
• Excellent communication and technical leadership skills.

Responsibilities

• Own Build Reliability for avionics hardware and work centers, setting expectations for reliability, manufacturability, and flight readiness.
• Partner with Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, Supply Chain, and Mission Assurance leadership to ensure robust, scalable quality and verification plans across the product lifecycle.
• Define readiness criteria for flight hardware and drive risk retirement during ramp-up.
• Develop internal avionics production processes with documentation, tooling, data collection, and training.
• Lead risk mitigations and recovery plans for severe issues with Mission Assurance.
• Analyze build data, lead quality reviews, and influence teams to prevent escapes and improve reliability.
• Lead root-cause investigations and implement robust corrective actions across Vast.
• Lead cost-reduction initiatives via simplified requirements and stronger process controls.
• Mentor teams to elevate reliability capabilities.

Skills

Reliability engineering

Quality systems

ISO 9001/AS9100

RCA

FMEA

SPC

Control plans

Six Sigma Black Belt

Avionics design

Education

Bachelor’s degree in engineering

Tools

RCA

FMEA

SPC

Control plans

ISO 9001

AS9100

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.

Vast is looking for a Senior / Staff Build Reliability Engineer (Avionics), reporting to the Director of Build & Supplier Reliability, to support the reliability of flight avionics hardware across the product lifecycle for our human-rated space stations.

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

Responsibilities

• Own Build Reliability for avionics hardware and work centers, setting expectations for reliability, manufacturability, and build and flight readiness.
• Partner with Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, Supply Chain, and Mission Assurance leadership to ensure robust, scalable quality and verification plans across the product lifecycle, with lessons consistently carried across programs.
• Ensure successful introduction of flight hardware by defining readiness criteria–including process qualification, manufacturability, and inspectability–and driving the retirement of build risks through production ramp-up.
• Drive maturation of internal avionics production processes, ensuring documentation, equipment, tooling, process controls, data collection, and training support consistent and streamlined execution.
• Ensure off-nominal work is performed and documented reliably. Partner with Mission Assurance to drive risk mitigations and steer response plans to severe issues. Provide leadership and technical direction for high-visibility issues, establishing recovery plans and aligning operations, quality, and engineering on execution.
• Collect and analyze build data to identify risk and recurring issues. Lead build quality reviews, generate data-driven recommendations, and effectively influence partner teams to prioritize efforts that prevent escapes and improve reliability.
• Lead containment and root-cause investigation of high-impact Avionics-related issues. Ensure implementation and verification of robust corrective actions that address root cause and systemic contributors across Vast.
• Lead major cost reduction initiatives through simplification of requirements, clearer design standards, streamlined inspection and process validation steps, and strengthened process controls.
• Mentor individuals and teams to elevate reliability capabilities across the company.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in an engineering discipline or equivalent experience
• 12+ years of experience in quality, manufacturing, reliability, or design in aerospace, defense, or high-reliability hardware environments
• Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional initiatives with executive visibility and influence technical direction across organizations
• Excellent communication and technical leadership skills

Preferred Skills & Experience

• Proven track record of driving systemic improvements and shaping engineering strategy.
• Deep expertise in reliability engineering, quality systems, and standards (ISO 9001, AS9100, etc.)
• Mastery of advanced reliability and quality tools (RCA, FMEA, SPC, control plans); Six Sigma Black Belt or equivalent experience preferred
• Strong technical depth in avionics design, manufacturing, integration, and/or test

Additional Requirements

• Ability to travel up to 10%
• Ability to support mission-critical events outside normal working hours

Pay Range: California – $137,760–$230,472 USD

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: 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.