Senior Electronics & Avionics Engineer Verified today

About Vast

Vast is developing next-generation space stations and space infrastructure. Haven Demo's 2025 success made Vast the only operational commercial space station company to fly and operate its own spacecraft. Haven-1 is expected to become the world's first commercial space station when it launches in 2027. The company recently announced Vast Satellite, a high-power satellite product line. Headquartered in Long Beach, California, Vast has more than 1,000 employees and over a billion dollars in private capital.

About this role

We're building a new satellite bus launching in Q4 2027. The avionics suite spans actuator controllers, power management electronics, high-speed payload interfaces, and sensor front-ends - a mix of in-house development, heritage reuse from other Vast programs, and COTS. You'll own every in-house development end-to-end: from make/buy/reuse decision through flight hardware delivery.

This is the most schedule-critical individual contributor role on the program. Multiple box developments run in parallel on tight timelines, and you're on the critical path for the entire satellite. As the product line scales from 10-satellite build to hundreds of spacecraft per year, you'll drive the transition from prototype to production.

Responsibilities

• Drive make, buy, or reuse decisions for all avionics boxes
• Own all in-house box developments end-to-end: kickoff, Rev 1 schematic/layout, component procurement, PCBA fab, board bring-up, radiation test, environmental test, CDR, Rev A delta design, flight build, ATP/QTP
• Manage PCBA critical path including schematic capture, layout, design reviews, component procurement, board fabrication, assembly, staking, conformal coating
• Own board bring-up and functional checkouts
• Coordinate with radiation test partners to qualify all components - proton and heavy ion testing
• Define environmental test requirements for box-level qualification
• Oversee harness design
• Design for production: ensure board designs are producible at rate as the product line scales to hundreds of spacecraft per year
• Interface with the Haven-1 avionics team to ensure cross-program collaboration and alignment

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or a related technical discipline
• 8+ years of electronics or avionics design experience in aerospace or defense
• 3+ years owning hardware development programs end-to-end
• Designed and delivered space-qualified avionics boxes through full lifecycle (prototype, env test, flight build, ATP)
• Strong PCBA design skills: schematic, layout, component selection for IPC Class 3 space applications
• Experience with radiation testing and rad-tolerant/rad-hard design approaches
• Managed parallel hardware developments on tight timelines
• Familiar with environmental qualification per SMC-S-016 or HALT/HASS, and parts derating per EEE-INST-002
• Comfortable with fast design iteration - Rev 1 as a learning build, Rev A as flight
• Experience with board bring-up, debug, and functional test development

Preferred Skills & Experience

• Able to obtain a security clearance
• CMG, reaction wheel, or ADCS actuator electronics experience
• Power electronics experience (bus controllers, battery charge controllers, power distribution)
• EMI/EMC design and test experience per MIL-STD-461
• IPC/J-STD workmanship standards knowledge
• Experience scaling from prototype to multi-unit production (10+ flight units)

Employment Details

This is a full-time, exempt position located in Long Beach, California.

Compensation

Base salary: $137,760-$195,552 USD, depending on experience and demonstrated capability. Full-time employees receive company equity and comprehensive benefits including medical, dental, and vision coverage; paid time off (20+ days vacation for exempt staff, cashable); paid parental leave; short and long-term disability; life insurance; 401(k) retirement plan; ClassPass credits; mental healthcare through Spring Health; free snacks, coffee, cold drinks, and dinner; subsidized lunch.

Export Control Compliance

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 includes U.S. citizens, U.S. nationals, lawful permanent residents (green card holders), and asylees and refugees with such status granted, not pending.