Senior Avionics Engineer - Motor Controls

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 Senior Avionics Engineer - Motor Controls, reporting to the Senior Director, Avionics Hardware Development, to support the development of the systems that will be required for the design and build of artificial-gravity human-rated space stations.This role is an opportunity to work with an excellent team of engineers on one of the most challenging problems - human spaceflight. Motor control products are vertically integrated at Vast and your designs will be used in mission critical space applications.

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

Responsibilities:

• Design of new and sustaining engineering for motor control and power electronics product for human rated spacecraft

• End to end responsible engineering ownership with a multidisciplinary team to carry your products through requirements capture, design, manufacturing, test, integration, and operation on orbit

• Professional written and verbal communication and excellence in documentation of work

• Effective collaboration and project management in a high paced environment

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in ECE, EE, Physics, or related STEM discipline

• 3+ years of experience in an electrical engineering role

• Experience with power electronics and/or motor control applications

Preferred Skills & Experience:

• Master’s degree in ECE, EE, Physics, or related STEM discipline

• Experience with programming languages such as Python, C++

• Experience developing hardware for space or other high reliability applications

• Experience with motor control signal processing such as FOC, SVM

• Understanding of ionizing radiation testing and effects for electronics

• Experience with Ethernet and IP networking, VPNs, TCP, UDP, L2/L3 switches, VLANs, etc

• Experience with serial communication protocols such as CAN, SPI, and I2C, RS-422/485

• Ability to thrive in a startup environment where you will have the opportunity to help define the way engineering is carried out while doing your own development work

Additional Requirements:

• Ability to travel up to 10% of the time

• Willingness to work overtime, or weekends to support critical mission milestones

• Ability to lift up to 25lbs unassisted

Pay Range: California
$147,600—$209,520 USD

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.