Thermal Fluids Design Reliability Engineer Verified today

About the Role

You will ensure thermal fluids systems on Haven-1 are appropriately designed and function reliably, without failure, over their intended lifespan by integrating reliability principles directly into the design process. You will drive Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA), guide test plan definition, review verification and validation data, and facilitate design teams to prevent failures before manufacturing. You will work closely with hardware teams to ensure build practices meet design intent, define test methodologies, and analyze field data to improve design robustness.

Responsibilities

Technical Leadership

• Guide design of thermal, environmental control, and life support systems on Haven-1
• Cultivate understanding of thermal and fluids analysis to drive design decisions
• Lead technical reviews providing clear, decisive guidance on mechanical design, analysis, manufacturing drawings, test plans, and concept of operations during milestone design reviews and risk gates
• Provide critical peer review and approval of hardware designs during design reviews and acceptance and qualification test campaigns
• Ensure Vast's design process and criteria are followed for flight, launch, and ground support systems
• Set standards for acceptance and qualification test completeness for flight systems, ensuring test campaigns are robust and aligned with human-rated reliability
• Identify risks early and help teams converge on safe, resilient solutions

Design Excellence

• Architect Vast's thermal fluids, environmental, and life support engineering standards, design guides, and review frameworks
• Develop design criteria, requirements, and verification approaches to support Haven-1 design architecture
• Make engineering best practices accessible and actionable for engineers working under ambitious program timelines
• Support engineering teams by bringing broad experience in design, build cycles, integration, and test
• Capture lessons learned and strengthen future standards

Process Ownership

• Own and continuously refine design review templates, reliability checklists, and internal design guides
• Track design maturity and compliance across the station and vehicle architecture
• Build tools, frameworks, and automation that empower engineers to explore design trade-offs and risks

Change and Configuration Management

• Partner with configuration and change management to ensure every update to flight hardware is intentional, reviewed, and fully understood
• Drive technical trades backed by physics-based engineering rationale
• Coordinate between Change Management, Risk, and Engineering teams to ensure design revisions drive continuous improvement
• Partner with the internal software team to ensure system data, configuration details, and design decisions are well organized and accessible

Risk Management

• Work with Risk Management and Engineering to quantify risk and failure probability through rigorous engineering rationale
• Drive FMEA and Fault tree analysis across all engineering systems to identify and mitigate risk
• Drive best practices for traceability and verification and validation of design revisions across flight, launch, and ground support systems

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Physics, or related Engineering discipline
• 6+ years of related professional work experience in responsible engineering, design ownership, systems integration, test engineering, or reliability-focused development

Preferred Skills and Experience

• 10+ years of related professional work experience in responsible engineering, design ownership, systems integration, test engineering, or reliability-focused development
• Experience in Responsible Engineering, Systems Engineering, Office of the Chief Engineer, or Reliability Engineering roles on complex aerospace systems
• Hands-on experience designing, assembling, integrating, or testing hardware
• Background with spacecraft, aircraft, launch vehicles, or other mission or safety-critical systems
• Familiarity with fracture control, reliability methodologies, or human-rated hardware standards
• Experience creating engineering standards, review templates, or technical guidance frameworks
• Strong scripting and data analysis skills (Python, MATLAB, Excel) and familiarity with visualization tools (e.g., Tableau)
• Knowledge of manufacturing processes, materials selection, and hardware qualification pathways
• Strong systems-level intuition and ability to anticipate and articulate risks early

Additional Requirements

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

Compensation

Base salary: $162,360 to $265,392 USD, depending on experience and capability. Full-time employees receive company equity and benefits including medical, dental, and vision coverage; paid time off (20+ days vacation for exempt staff, 10+ days for non-exempt staff with cash-out option); paid parental leave; short and long-term disability insurance; life insurance; 401(k) retirement plan; ClassPass credits; mental healthcare through Spring Health; free snacks, coffee, barista, cold drinks, and dinner; subsidized lunch.