Staff DevOps Engineer

Front Door Defense; Long Beach (CA); On-site; USD 188,600 - 267,700; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

100% medical, dental, and vision coverage

Generous paid time off

Free food perks

401(k) retirement plan

Mental healthcare access

ClassPass credits

Job summary

Vast in Long Beach is seeking a Staff DevOps Engineer to support the development of systems for their artificial-gravity human-rated space stations. This full-time position involves developing CI/CD pipelines and designing secure cloud environments for mission software services.

The ideal candidate will have a Bachelor's degree and at least 3 years of experience in application development with languages like Python and Go, alongside experience in cloud systems using Terraform and container orchestration with Kubernetes.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of experience in application development with Python, Go, or Javascript/Typescript.
• Experience maintaining large‑scale data systems with strict SLAs and high criticality.
• Deep experience with containerization and orchestration using Docker and Kubernetes.
• Ability to effectively triage priorities and communicate initiatives.

Responsibilities

• Develop and support CI/CD pipelines for frontend and backend applications.
• Collaborate with Flight Software teams for release management.
• Design and operate a secure cloud environment for mission software services.
• Ensure proper tooling for monitoring and maintaining uptime.
• Operate chaos testing, load testing, and automated regression testing.

Skills

Python

Go

Javascript

Typescript

Terraform

Docker

Kubernetes

Networking concepts

Education

Bachelor’s degree in computer science, computer engineering, electrical engineering or other engineering discipline

Tools

Kafka

Prometheus

Grafana

ELK stack

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 Staff DevOps Engineer, reporting to the Manager, DevOps & Platform 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

• Develop and support CI/CD pipelines, automating the build, test, and release of frontend and backend applications for the Mission Software Team.
• Collaborate with Flight Software teams to streamline release management and integrated testing between physical and simulated flight assets and the supporting mission software.
• Design and help operate a highly secure and stable cloud environment to support in‑flight missions with the suite of mission software services. Assist in the initial design of this environment as well as the migration of deployed services from development environments to the mission environment.
• Drive the operational requirements and procedures for mission software services and take ownership of reliability engineering; ensure the proper tooling is in place for monitoring and maintaining continuous uptime.
• Regularly exercise our services capabilities by orchestrating chaos testing, load testing, and automated regression testing.
• Build and expand on an internal developer portal that includes runbooks, incident response management, centralized API registry, service health metrics, and more.
• Work cross‑functionally with other teams at Vast including InfoSec and IT.
• Help build the technical and cultural groundwork for a DevOps organization at Vast.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, computer engineering, electrical engineering or other engineering discipline.
• 3+ years of experience in application development with Python, Go, or Javascript/Typescript.
• Experience maintaining large‑scale data systems (measured in TB and kHz) with strict SLAs and high criticality.
• Extensive experience developing and managing solutions in the cloud using Terraform.
• Deep experience with containerization and orchestration using Docker and Kubernetes; should be able to confidently administer, configure, and operate a multi‑tenant Kubernetes cluster.
• Comprehensive understanding of networking concepts, both fundamental (OSI Model, linux networking appliances, etc.) as well as cloud (VPC’s, transit gateways, proper subnetting and routing, etc.).
• Ability to effectively triage priorities, communicate initiatives and timelines, and promote DevOps skills and culture within a fast‑paced organization.

Preferred Skills & Experience

• Expertise in building and testing distributed Golang applications.
• Expertise in optimally configuring and maintaining Kafka clusters.
• Expertise in setting strategy for incident response and remediation.
• Experience driving security and code quality standards through automated scanners applied to the codebase (SAST + SCA).
• Experience with self‑hosted observability instrumentation in distributed systems (e.g. Prometheus, Grafana, ELK stack, etc.).

Additional Requirements

• Willingness to work occasional evenings and/or weekends to support critical mission milestones.

Pay Range

• Senior DevOps Engineer: $159,000 - $226,980
• Staff DevOps Engineer: $188,600 - $267,700

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.