Systems Engineer, Spacecraft Design & Simulation Verified today

About Vast

Vast is developing next-generation space stations and space infrastructure using an incremental, hardware-rich, and low-cost approach. 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. Vast recently announced Vast Satellite, a high-power satellite product line leveraging space station components.

The Role

You will own the spacecraft simulation toolchain that is the foundation of Vast's mission factory. This is a spacecraft systems engineering role where you define governing equations, boundary conditions, and expected behavior for each model. You will build and maintain a rigorous validation suite including hand calculations, independent tool cross-checks, and edge case analysis. AI code generation tools accelerate implementation, but engineering judgment, validation methodology, and physics expertise are yours.

The toolchain includes spacecraft power, thermal, and ADCS simulation; orbital constellation analysis; communications link budgets; and actuator trade studies. You'll evaluate the existing prototype, determine whether to extend or redesign it, and own the toolchain as Vast scales from the first 10-satellite demo launch to hundreds of spacecraft per year.

Responsibilities

• Own and evolve the spacecraft design, simulation, and digital twin toolchain for power, thermal, ADCS, orbital mechanics, constellation coverage, link budgets, and mass and design margin tracking
• Make the toolchain the hub of the engineering organization so every discipline can run trade studies and assess design changes quickly
• Drive design trades and architecture decisions through analysis to determine whether power budgets close, thermal architecture works, and customer requirements are met
• Enable rapid iteration as customer requirements and design evolve so engineers assess impact immediately
• Maintain the digital twin as the program's engineering record for requirements, budgets, design parameters, and trade study results
• Build and maintain a rigorous validation suite including hand calculations, independent tool cross-checks, edge case analysis, and regression testing
• Train and support the engineering team for self-serve trade studies and analysis

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Physics, or related technical discipline
• 4+ years of spacecraft systems engineering or mission analysis experience
• Spacecraft systems engineer with broad subsystem knowledge of power, thermal, ADCS, and orbital mechanics
• Strong analytical skills for thermal equilibrium, power budgets, and pointing error budgets
• Rigorous validation mindset and ability to build tests to prove correctness
• Comfortable with AI-assisted development workflows
• Generalist background from small-sat company, research lab, or mission design role touching multiple subsystems
• Cross-functional collaboration skills to work with every discipline lead
• Comfortable reading and reviewing code to understand logic and catch errors

Preferred Skills and Experience

• Able to obtain a security clearance
• Experience building or maintaining spacecraft simulation tools
• Familiarity with orbital mechanics including Kepler solver, J2 perturbations, and eclipse geometry
• Familiarity with CMG dynamics and quaternion attitude propagation
• Experience with data visualization tools or libraries
• Demonstrated use of AI-assisted code generation tools on engineering projects
• Requirements management and verification experience on spacecraft missions
• Experience with MBSE tools or model-based development methodologies
• Experience scaling engineering tools or analysis workflows across growing teams
• Experience developing validation and verification test suites for engineering tools

Compensation

Systems Engineer II: $112,340 - $159,468
Senior Systems Engineer: $137,760 - $195,552

Base salary varies based on experience, education, skills, and market demand. Full-time employees receive company equity and comprehensive benefits including medical, dental, and vision coverage; 20+ days paid vacation for exempt staff; paid parental leave; short and long-term disability insurance; life insurance; 401(k) plan; ClassPass credits; mental healthcare through Spring Health; free snacks, coffee, and dinner; and subsidized lunch.

Employment Details

Full-time, exempt position located in Long Beach, California.

U.S. 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, and asylees and refugees with status granted.