Staff Lunar Environments Engineer Verified today

Vast is developing next-generation space stations and space infrastructure using hardware-rich, low-cost approaches. Haven Demo achieved operational status in 2025. Haven-1 is expected to become the world's first commercial space station when it launches in 2027. Vast Satellite is a high-power satellite product line leveraging space station components. The company now plans future habitats and systems for the Moon and Mars.

We seek a Staff Lunar Environments Engineer reporting to the Senior Vice President, Lunar Programs to lead characterization of natural and induced lunar surface hazards including regolith and dust, radiation, micrometeorite flux, thermal and solar conditions, and terrain/geography. You will drive their translation into concrete design requirements across Vast's Lunar ecosystem.

As one of the earliest engineers on the Lunar team, you will work closely with the Systems Architect and directly with hardware engineers. You will ensure every element of Vast's lunar systems - habitats, surface systems, mechanisms, and crew interfaces - is designed against the reality of the lunar environment, not assumptions from Earth-orbit or Earth-based systems.

You will set technical standards and methodologies the engineering organization uses to assess environmental risk and serve as the go-to expert on environment-driven design questions. This is a hands-on, first-principles role: when dust accumulates on a suit at the airlock, you define what that means for seal wear, air system contamination, and mechanism life, and lead the cross-functional effort to solve it.

Responsibilities

• Lead characterization of lunar-specific environmental hazards including regolith and dust properties, radiation, micrometeorite and secondary ejecta environment, thermal extremes and solar illumination cycles, and terrain/geography relevant to Vast's target landing and operations sites
• Establish design requirements, constraints, and margins derived from environmental characterization and drive their adoption across systems architecture, structures, mechanisms, Life Support Systems (ECLSS), power, avionics, and human factors teams
• Partner directly with the Systems Architect to embed lunar environmental risk into the end-to-end architecture of Vast's Lunar ecosystem, influencing major trades
• Define and own environment-specific design standards, guidelines, and verification methodologies (e.g., dust tolerance testing, radiation shielding sizing, MMOD risk assessment) used across the Lunar program and ensure consistent application across subsystems
• Lead trade studies quantifying environmental risk and its design/schedule/cost implications to inform major program decisions
• Mine and apply lessons learned from NASA, Apollo-era, and international lunar mission data (e.g., Apollo dust/seal anomalies, LCROSS, Chang'e, Chandrayaan surface data) to ground Vast's designs in flight-proven precedent
• Lead identification and mitigation planning for environment-driven risks at program milestone reviews (SRR, PDR, CDR) and independently present findings to program leadership
• Represent Vast's environmental risk posture and mitigation strategy to NASA and external partners, including in technical exchanges and proposal support
• Mentor mid-level and senior engineers on environmental risk methodology and help build the Lunar program's institutional expertise as the team scales

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Planetary Science, Physics, Materials Science, or a related technical discipline
• 8+ years of experience in space environments engineering, planetary surface science, or closely related discipline involving space environmental hazards (radiation, MMOD, thermal/plasma, or planetary regolith/dust)
• Demonstrated ownership of environmental risk assessment and mitigation across at least one full program lifecycle, from concept development through design reviews or flight
• Direct experience with lunar surface data or programs, environmental hazards, and their effects on hardware and/or crew systems
• Strong analytical skills to independently model or estimate environmental effects (e.g., dust accumulation rates, radiation dose, thermal cycling loads) and translate them into engineering requirements and standards
• Deep expertise in at least one element of Vast's lunar systems including habitats, surface systems, mechanisms, and/or crew interfaces. Versification in multiple areas preferred; deep experience in one area with exposure to others will be strongly considered
• Proven track record influencing design decisions and technical direction across multiple engineering disciplines
• Excellent communication skills to explain complex environmental phenomena and their design implications to cross-functional partners and stakeholders

Preferred Skills and Experience

• Experience mentoring or informally leading other engineers on technical problems
• Experience with regolith simulants and dust mitigation testing (e.g., seal wear testing, electrostatic dust mitigation technologies, filtration system design for particulate contamination)
• Advanced expertise in radiation shielding analysis, MMOD risk assessment tools, or thermal environment modeling for planetary surfaces
• Experience leading design reviews (PDR, CDR) or verification campaigns for crewed or robotic space hardware
• Familiarity with NASA's Moon Base program, Artemis architecture, and human-rating standards as they relate to environmental risk
• Experience in a fast-paced, hardware-rich startup environment with rapid design-build-test cycles
• Advanced degree (Master's or PhD) in Planetary Science, Aerospace Engineering, or a related field
• Track record establishing new technical standards, functions, or knowledge bases from the ground up
• Experience representing technical findings in external-facing settings including customer reviews, technical exchanges, or proposal support

Additional Requirements

• Willingness to work evenings and/or weekends as needed to support critical mission milestones
• Ability to travel up to 20% of the time to support customer meetings and engagements

Compensation and Benefits

Base salary range: $175,000 to $286,000 USD, calibrated to selected candidate's experience and demonstrated capability.

Full-time employees receive company equity and a comprehensive benefits package including medical, dental, and vision coverage for employees and dependents; generous paid time off with up to 20+ days of vacation for exempt staff and up to 10+ days 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. Exceptional food perks include snacks, drip coffee, onsite barista, cold drinks, and dinner meals free of charge, with lunch subsidized.

Export Control Compliance

The person hired will have access to information and items subject to U.S. export controls and 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.