Spacecraft Operations Lead for Crew & Uncrewed Missions

Vast Space Llc.; Long Beach (CA); On-site; USD 170,000 - 242,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Health benefits

Paid time off

Onsite meals

Job summary

Vast in Long Beach, CA seeks a Senior Manager, Spacecraft Operations to lead the team responsible for planning and executing crewed and uncrewed missions from design through deorbit. You will set operating standards, timelines, and procedures to ensure safety, reliability, and efficiency across all mission phases.

You will grow the Haven mission operations team, mentor engineers, and support 24/7 console operations, with travel up to 20% and on-site collaboration at Vast's Long Beach

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in aerospace or mechanical engineering, or equivalent experience.
• 10+ years operating complex spaceflight or high-reliability systems.
• Experience in human spaceflight mission operations.
• Flight controller or console operator experience.
• 3+ years of leadership, mentoring engineers.
• Experience across engineering disciplines to resolve operational issues.
• Experience briefing senior leadership and customers on complex issues.

Responsibilities

• Own operational readiness for multiple crewed and uncrewed missions.
• Translate customer and internal requirements into robust COOP and mission timelines.
• Lead the Haven mission operations team and enable fast decisions.
• Grow the mission ops team for Haven-1 and Haven Station, mentoring engineers.
• Lead cross-disciplinary ops development, including flight rules and procedures.
• Identify improvements to mission ops software and systems.
• Maintain console certification.
• Monitor on-orbit spacecraft, triage anomalies, drive resolution.
• Support 24/7 console shifts during critical milestones.

Skills

Leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Briefing senior leadership

Root-cause analysis

Operational readiness

Education

Bachelor's degree in aerospace / mechanical engineering

Equivalent experience considered

Tools

Mission ops software

Automation tooling

Ground software

Job description

Vast in Long Beach, CA seeks a Senior Manager, Spacecraft Operations to lead the team responsible for planning and executing crewed and uncrewed missions from design through deorbit. You will set operating standards, timelines, and procedures to ensure safety, reliability, and efficiency across all mission phases.

You will grow the Haven mission operations team, mentor engineers, and support 24/7 console operations, with travel up to 20% and on-site collaboration at Vast's Long Beach