Senior / Staff Build Reliability Engineer (Integration)

<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 <strong>Senior / Staff Build Reliability Engineer (Integration),</strong> reporting to the <strong>Director of Build & Supplier Reliability</strong>, to support the reliability of vehicle integration and test operations across the product lifecycle for our 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>Own Build Reliability for vehicle integration and test work centers, setting expectations for reliability, manufacturability, and build and flight readiness.</li>
<li>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.</li>
<li>Ensure successful introduction of flight hardware by defining integration readiness criteria–including process qualification, design for manufacturability and assembly, and inspectability–and driving the retirement of risks through production ramp-up.</li>
<li>Drive maturation of integration and test processes, ensuring documentation, equipment, tooling, process controls, data collection, and training support consistent and streamlined execution.</li>
<li>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.</li>
<li>Collect and analyze build data to identify risk and recurring issues. Lead build quality reviews, generate data-driven recommendations, and effectively influence upstream and partner teams to prioritize efforts that prevent escapes and improve vehicle reliability.</li>
<li>Lead containment and root-cause investigation of high-impact vehicle issues. Ensure implementation and verification of robust corrective actions that address root cause and systemic contributors across Vast.</li>
<li>Lead major cost reduction initiatives through simplification of requirements, clearer design and integration standards, streamlined inspection and process validation steps, and strengthened</li>
<li>process controls.</li>
<li>Mentor individuals and teams to elevate reliability capabilities across the company.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Minimum Qualifications:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Bachelor’s degree in an engineering discipline or equivalent experience.</li>
<li>12+ years of experience in quality, manufacturing, reliability, or design in aerospace, defense, or high-reliability hardware environments.</li>
<li>Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional initiatives with executive visibility and influence technical direction across organizations.</li>
<li>Excellent communication and technical leadership skills.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Preferred Skills & Experience:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Proven track record of driving systemic improvements and shaping engineering strategy.</li>
<li>Deep expertise in reliability engineering, quality systems, and standards (ISO 9001, AS9100, etc.)</li>
<li>Mastery of advanced reliability and quality tools (RCA, FMEA, SPC, control plans); Six Sigma Black Belt or equivalent experience preferred.</li>
<li>Strong technical depth in hardware integration, assembly operations, and/or test operations</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Additional Requirements:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Ability to travel up to 10%.</li>
<li>Ability to support mission-critical events outside normal working hours.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Pay Range:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Senior Build Reliability Engineer: $137,760 - $162,960 - $195,552</li>
<li>Staff Build Reliability Engineer: $162,360 - $192,060 - $230,472</li>
</ul><div class="content-pay-transparency"><div class="pay-input"><div class="title">Pay Range: California</div><div class="pay-range"><span>$137,760</span><span class="divider">—</span><span>$230,472 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>