Staff Data Architect

<div class="content-intro"><p>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.</p></div><p>Vast is looking for a Staff Data Architect, reporting to the Senior Director of Information Systems, to support the development of the data infrastructure and AI-driven capabilities that will be required for the design and build of artificial-gravity human-rated space stations.</p>
<p>This will be a <strong>full-time</strong>, <strong>exempt</strong> position located in our <strong>Long Beach</strong> location.</p>
<p><strong>Responsibilities:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Design, architect, and implement scalable enterprise data infrastructure including data lakes, warehouses, and real-time streaming platforms</li>
<li>Build and maintain robust data pipelines that feed internal AI/ML tools and enable advanced analytics across all departments</li>
<li>Own end-to-end data architecture from ingestion through transformation to consumption, ensuring data quality, reliability, and security</li>
<li>Integrate data from complex engineering systems (PLM/Teamcenter), manufacturing systems (MES/MOM), ERP (NetSuite), IoT/sensor networks and other enterprise systems</li>
<li>Create innovative data solutions that enable AI/ML capabilities for engineering analysis, manufacturing optimization, and supply chain intelligence</li>
<li>Establish data governance frameworks, standards, and best practices across the organization</li>
<li>Implement MLOps infrastructure to support model training, deployment, and monitoring</li>
<li>Build real-time data pipelines from shop floor systems, test equipment, and operational technology (OT) environments</li>
<li>Collaborate with Engineering, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, and business teams to understand data requirements and deliver BI/AI-ready datasets</li>
<li>Lead and mentor a high-performing data engineering team, establishing technical standards and fostering a culture of extreme ownership</li>
<li>Evaluate and implement cutting-edge data technologies including cloud-native services, vector databases, and modern data stack tools</li>
<li>Optimize data pipelines for performance, cost-efficiency, and scalability</li>
<li>Implement monitoring, alerting, observability, and disaster recovery capabilities for mission-critical data systems</li>
<li>Provide technical leadership and strategic guidance on data architecture to executive leadership</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Minimum Qualifications:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Data Engineering, Computer Engineering, or equivalent work experience</li>
<li>8+ years of hands-on experience in data engineering, data architecture, or related fields</li>
<li>3+ years of experience in a technical leadership role leading data engineering teams or initiatives</li>
<li>Proven track record of building enterprise-scale data infrastructure and production data pipelines</li>
<li>Expert-level proficiency in SQL and Python</li>
<li>Deep hands-on experience with cloud data platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP) and associated data services</li>
<li>Strong experience with modern data processing frameworks (Apache Spark, Kafka, Airflow, or equivalent)</li>
<li>Demonstrated experience with data warehousing technologies (Snowflake, Databricks, BigQuery, Redshift, or similar)</li>
<li>Experience supporting AI/ML initiatives with production-grade data pipelines and infrastructure</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Preferred Skills & Experience:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Experience in manufacturing, aerospace, defense, or hardware-intensive industries</li>
<li>Background integrating data from PLM systems (Teamcenter, Windchill), ERP systems (NetSuite, SAP), and MES/manufacturing execution systems</li>
<li>Hands-on experience with MLOps tools, feature stores, and machine learning data pipelines</li>
<li>Knowledge of DevOps/DataOps practices including CI/CD, infrastructure as code (Terraform, CloudFormation), and containerization (Docker, Kubernetes)</li>
<li>Experience with real-time streaming architectures and event-driven systems</li>
<li>Familiarity with vector databases, knowledge graphs, and AI/LLM data architectures</li>
<li>Understanding of dimensional modeling, data vault methodology, and modern data architecture patterns</li>
<li>Contributions to open-source data engineering projects</li>
<li>Experience with digital twin architectures or simulation data management</li>
<li>Strong understanding of data security, compliance, and governance in regulated industries</li>
<li>Excellent communication skills with the ability to translate complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders</li>
<li>Proven ability to balance strategic vision with tactical execution in fast-paced startup environments</li>
<li>Track record of extreme ownership—proactively identifying problems and driving solutions to completion</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Additional Requirements:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Ability to travel up to 10% of the time to other Vast facilities or vendor sites</li>
<li>Willingness to work extended hours or weekends to support critical mission milestones and production launches</li>
<li>Must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State (export control requirement)</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Pay Range:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Staff Data Architect: $155,800- $221,160</li>
</ul><div class="content-pay-transparency"><div class="pay-input"><div class="title">Pay Range: California</div><div class="pay-range"><span>$155,800</span><span class="divider">—</span><span>$221,160 USD</span></div></div></div><div class="content-conclusion"><p style="line-height: 1;"><strong>COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS<br></strong><br>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.</p>
<p style="line-height: 1;"><strong><br>U.S. EXPORT CONTROL COMPLIANCE STATUS<br><br></strong>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 <a href="https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-22/section-120.62">22 C.F.R. § 120.62</a> 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.<br><br></p>
<p style="line-height: 1;"><strong>EQUAL OPPORTUNITY</strong><br><br>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.</p></div>