Vast is developing next-generation space stations and space infrastructure using an incremental, hardware-rich, and capital-efficient approach. Vast is rapidly developing its multi-module Haven Station to support a continuous human presence in space for America and its allies, enabling advanced microgravity research and manufacturing, and supporting a growing space economy for government, corporate, and private customers. Haven Demo’s 2025 success made Vast the only operational commercial space station company to design, build, and operate its own spacecraft in orbit. Next, Haven-1 is targeted to become the world’s first commercial space station, with launch anticipated in 2027, followed by additional Haven modules. Additionally, the company recently announced two new offerings leveraging its space station components and the heritage of Haven Demo: Vast Satellite, a high-power satellite product line; and Vast Lunar Systems, power, communications, and habitats for the Moon.

Headquartered in Long Beach, California, and with more than 1,000 employees and over a billion dollars in private capital, Vast has built the facilities capable of manufacturing America’s next space station. The company plans to develop future habitats and systems for Mars, dedicated modules for government partners, and other crewed systems designed to unlock the expanding long-term space economy.

Vast is looking for a Level 2 Mission Operations Engineer reporting to the Senior Manager of Crew Operations & Training, to support the development of the systems required to enable and execute the delivery of the crew operations and flight controller and crew training programs needed for human-rated space stations. You are responsible for the planning and successful implementation of crew operations and technical training for our spacecraft missions.

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

Responsibilities

Training:

Develop technical crew training materials that serve both experienced government crew members and private customers new to spaceflight operations
Develop technical training materials across all vehicle subsystems for flight controllers who will be operating the Haven-1 station
Assist execution of training simulations, including scenario construction, scripting and automation, testing and troubleshooting
Assist planning end-to-end training flows and execution of technical training events in support of the certification of both astronaut crew members and members of the flight control team using a variety of environments and delivery platforms

Crew Operations:

Develop scalable human-in-the-loop testing processes for the verification and validation of human interface requirements
Execute task analysis and human-in-the-loop testing for the development of crew operations, including ownership of the development and testing of all crew-facing procedures, using a variety of environments and delivery platforms
Support as a subject matter expert on human operation of a safety-critical system across all engineering disciplines such as analysis of crew loads, identification of human error risks and hazard controls, and development of user interfaces and displays

Cross-functional collaboration and integration:

Provide operational support as the operations expert in planning for and execution of pre-flight testing and checkouts to ensure training systems, spacecraft, and ground systems are capable to execute readiness campaigns and flight
Work closely with Mission Management to ensure customer requirements (including but not limited to payloads, customer directed science, and other research activities) are translated to a Concept of Operations that balances all needs
Work with engineers across disciplines to support the development of spacecraft operations training programs and crew operations procedures with intimate knowledge of ground procedures, flight rules, hazard reports and controls, products & processes; culminating in the safe & successful operations of a newly launched spacecraft and crew