Senior Manufacturing Engineer, ECLSS

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 Manufacturing Engineer, Environmental Control and Life Support Systems , reporting to the Senior Manager, ECLSS Manufacturing , to support the development, production, and integration of the systems required for human-rated space stations.

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

Responsibilities:

Own the manufacturing development, production readiness, and build execution of environmental control and life support system hardware for our artificial-gravity space station

Develop, mature, and optimize manufacturing processes for ECLSS components and assemblies, from prototype builds through production and flight hardware

Partner closely with design engineering to ensure hardware is manufacturable, reliable, inspectable, and scalable from early design trades through final production

Create and maintain manufacturing plans, work instructions, assembly procedures, inspection plans, and production documentation

Drive hands-on fabrication, assembly, integration, and test activities in a fast-paced hardware development environment

Identify and resolve production issues through root cause analysis, failure investigation, corrective actions, and continuous improvement

Lead design-for-manufacturing and design-for-assembly reviews internally and with suppliers

Own manufacturing schedules, build sequencing, and production execution for assigned ECLSS hardware from early development through launch vehicle integration

Work with technicians, quality, supply chain, design engineering, test engineering, avionics, software, and mission operations teams to ensure successful system integration

Support supplier development and manufacturing readiness for externally produced components and assemblies

Evaluate and implement manufacturing techniques for metallic, fluid, thermal, and soft-goods hardware, including machining, welding, brazing, tube bending, cleaning, bonding, and assembly

Bring technical rigor, ownership, and continuous improvement to all aspects of manufacturing engineering

Basic Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in an engineering or science discipline

5+ years of experience in manufacturing engineering, production engineering, or hardware development for fluid, thermal, environmental control, or life support systems

3+ years of hands-on hardware experience supporting fabrication, assembly, integration, and/or testing

Experience developing manufacturing processes, work instructions, build plans, or production documentation for complex hardware

Preferred Qualifications

Master’s degree in an engineering discipline.

Experience supporting production or build execution for aerospace, spacecraft, propulsion, ECLSS, thermal, fluid, or other high-reliability hardware

Strong experience with design for manufacturing and assembly, production readiness, process development, and manufacturing risk reduction

Proactive problem-solving skills, including failure analysis, root cause investigation, corrective action implementation, and design of experiments

Ability to perform trade studies using first principles and engineering fundamentals to make clear recommendations with partial information

Experience with rotating machinery, pumps, valves, heat exchangers, pressure vessels, fans, separators, or other fluid system components

Experience with soft goods, flexible ducting, seals, insulation, or other non-metallic flight hardware

Experience with NX

Solid understanding and application of geometric dimensioning and tolerancing, tolerance stack-up analysis, and inspection planning

Experience with structural analysis methods, including hand calculations, FEMAP, or ANSYS, to evaluate manufacturability, strength, life, and fracture considerations

Knowledge of metallic and fluid system manufacturing techniques, processes, equipment, and special processes, including machining, welding, brazing, tube bending, cleaning, passivation, leak testing, proof testing, and pressure…