Associate Creative Director, Brand & Design

<div class="content-intro"><p>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.</p></div><p>Vast is looking for an <strong>Associate Creative Director, Brand &amp; Design</strong>, reporting to the<strong> Senior Director, Brand Design, </strong>to help build and protect the creative standard for how Vast shows up in the world<strong>.</strong> You'll be in the work every day: designing, art directing, and solving creative problems directly, while giving clear direction to a small team and mentoring the people on it. You help shape the creative direction for key brand moments, then roll up your sleeves to make the work great.</p> <p>This will be a <strong>full-time</strong>, <strong>exempt</strong> position located in our <strong>Long Beach </strong>location. </p> <p><strong>Responsibilities: </strong></p> <ul> <li>Own and evolve Vast's brand design standards, and make sure the work coming out of the team meets them every day, not just at major launches</li> <li>Manage a team of designers day-to-day: give feedback in real time, run reviews, and set clear direction on what good looks like</li> <li>Jump into the work yourself, sketching, editing, designing, when that's the fastest way to get something over the bar</li> <li>Lead creative work from concept through final execution across brand initiatives, campaigns, and key company moments</li> <li>Translate business goals and technical complexity into creative direction the team can actually run with</li> <li>Partner with marketing, comms, product, engineering, and business teams to spot where design can move the needle, and follow through on it</li> <li>Mentor designers on craft and judgment, not just process, help them get better at knowing what to cut</li> <li>Present creative direction to stakeholders, and hold the line on quality when there's pressure to compromise</li> <li>Keep a real pulse on how AI is changing design and production workflows, and bring that into how the team actually works</li> </ul> <p><strong>Minimum Qualifications:</strong></p> <ul> <li>Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience</li> <li>8+ years of experience in brand, design, art direction, or a related creative discipline (e.g., brand design, digital design, visual communications, integrated marketing), with a proven track record of producing high-quality work yourself</li> <li>A strong portfolio that demonstrates hands-on craft across multiple channels and audiences, with a clear pull toward innovative, simple, and technically-minded work</li> <li>Experience working in a fast-paced environment, and genuinely enjoying the pace, volume, and ambiguity that come with it</li> <li>Experience managing a small design team: giving clear creative direction while staying deeply hands-on in the work itself</li> <li>A natural people mentor who develops direct reports and helps them grow their craft and confidence</li> <li>Experience translating business objectives, audience insights, and complex concepts into clear, executable creative</li> <li>Experience partnering with cross-functional teams including marketing, communications, product, engineering, operations, and leadership</li> </ul> <p><strong>Preferred Skills &amp; Experience:</strong></p> <ul> <li>Experience building brand in aerospace, technology, science, or another category where the product is genuinely hard to explain</li> <li>Comfortable across brand design standards, design for print, ads, social, events, partnerships, mission graphics, facilities and wayfinding</li> <li>Experience translating highly technical, hard-to-explain products into stories that land with a broader audience without losing credibility with a technical one</li> <li>Experience managing external creative partners and production resources</li> <li>Comfortable in the room with engineers and executives, able to hold a point of view under pressure and get people aligned without watering down the work</li> </ul> <p><strong>Additional Requirements:</strong></p> <ul> <li>Ability to travel up to 10% of the time</li> <li>Willingness to work overtime, or weekends to support critical mission milestones</li> </ul><div class="content-pay-transparency"><div class="pay-input"><div class="title">Pay Range: California</div><div class="pay-range"><span>$151,000</span><span class="divider">&mdash;</span><span>$256,000 USD</span></div></div></div><div class="content-conclusion"><p style="line-height: 1;"><strong>COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS<br></strong><br>Base salary will vary depending on job-related knowledge, education, skills, experience, business needs, and market demand. Salary is just one component of our comprehensive compensation package. Full-time employees also receive company equity, as well as access to a full suite of compelling benefits and perks, including: medical, dental, and vision coverage for employees and dependents, generous paid time off; up to 20+ days of vacation for exempt staff and up to 10+ days of vacation 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. We also take pride in offering exceptional food perks, with snacks, drip coffee &amp; onsite barista, cold drinks, and dinner meals remaining free of charge, and lunch subsidized as part of Vast’s ongoing commitment to providing high-quality meals for employees.</p> <p style="line-height: 1;"><strong><br>U.S. EXPORT CONTROL COMPLIANCE STATUS<br><br></strong>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 <a href="https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-22/section-120.62">22 C.F.R. § 120.62</a> or otherwise eligible for deemed export licensing. This status includes U.S. citizens, U.S. nationals, lawful permanent residents (green card holders), and asylees and refugees with such status granted, not pending.<br><br></p> <p style="line-height: 1;"><strong>EQUAL OPPORTUNITY</strong><br><br>Vast is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Vast is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.</p></div>