Principal Manufacturing Engineer

<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 a(n) <strong>Principal Manufacturing Engineer</strong>, reporting to the<strong> Vice President, Manufacturing </strong>to support the development of the systems that will be required for the design and build of human-rated space stations.</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>Lead the design and continuous Improvement of manufacturing processes and production systems across the factory, with focus on flow, execution, scalability, and business impact.</li> <li>Identify, prioritize, and eliminate bottlenecks across manufacturing, integration, test, inspection, material movement, and production control.</li> <li>Drive the transition from prototype builds to repeatable low-volume production while maintaining speed and flexibility.</li> <li>Develop scalable operating processes, ownership models, and execution rhythms that improve factory performance.</li> <li>Own the strategy and integration for ERP, MRP, MES, PLS, mBOM, routing, work instruction, and production control systems.</li> <li>Serve as the technical and business process owner for key production workflows, including MRR/PRR, manufacturing inputs to CDR, material flow, kitting, staging, inventory accuracy, and production readiness controls. </li> <li>Leverage production data, schedule performance, NC trends, and factory observations to identify issues and drive corrective actions.</li> <li>Serve as business process owner for standardization across </li> <li>Partner with design, quality, supply chain, planning, production, test, and integration teams to solve cross-functional execution problems.</li> <li>Challenge existing manufacturing and operational assumptions using data, first-principles thinking, and direct factory engagement.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Minimum Qualifications:</strong></p> <ul> <li>Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or a related STEM discipline.</li> <li>10+ years of manufacturing engineering experience supporting complex hardware development, production execution, or factory operations.</li> <li><em>Experience</em> improving manufacturing processes, production systems, material flow, or factory execution across multiple products, programs, or work centers.</li> <li>Demonstrated advanced experience supporting the transition from prototype development to repeatable production or low-rate manufacturing.</li> <li>Experience owning or improving production business processes such as MRR/PRR, manufacturing inputs to CDR, production readiness, mBOMs, routings, work instructions, or production control.</li> <li>Experience working with ERP, MRP, MES, PLS, or similar manufacturing execution and production control systems.</li> <li>Experience identifying bottlenecks, analyzing factory performance, and driving improvements in throughput, schedule reliability, quality, or cost.</li> <li>Experience resolving complex manufacturing, quality, material, or production execution issues using structured problem-solving methods.</li> <li>Experience collaborating across manufacturing, production, design engineering, quality, supply chain, planning, test, integration, and program management teams.</li> <li>Strong understanding of aerospace or complex hardware manufacturing operations, including assembly, integration, test, inspection, fabrication, machining, welding, automation, or related production processes.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Preferred Skills &amp; Experience:</strong></p> <ul> <li>Experience building or transforming manufacturing organizations during a major scale-up, factory ramp, or operating model change.</li> <li>Strong understanding of how engineering release, configuration management, change control, and production execution processes interact in complex hardware environments.</li> <li>Experience defining system requirements or business requirements for manufacturing tools, digital workflows, production dashboards, or factory data infrastructure.</li> <li>Demonstrated ability to turn ambiguous factory problems into clear operating models, decision frameworks, and scalable execution processes.</li> <li>Experience influencing senior technical, operational, and program leaders across organizational boundaries without direct authority.</li> <li>Experience developing executive-level recommendations, business cases, trade studies, or implementation plans for major factory improvement initiatives.</li> <li>Strong ability to balance process discipline with speed, flexibility, and engineering iteration in a fast-moving development environment.</li> <li>Experience working in human-rated, safety-critical, mission-critical, or highly regulated hardware programs.</li> <li>Expertise with Lean, Six Sigma, Theory of Constraints, or similar operational excellence methods applied in practical factory environments.</li> <li>Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with ability to simplify complex technical and operational topics for broad audiences.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Additional Requirements:</strong></p> <ul> <li>Ability to lift up to 25 pounds unassisted.</li> <li>Ability to work on the manufacturing floor for extended periods supporting production activities.</li> <li>Willingness to work evenings, weekends, and travel as necessary to support critical program milestones.</li> <li>Must be able to obtain and maintain any required export control authorizations.</li> </ul><div class="content-pay-transparency"><div class="pay-input"><div class="title">Pay Range: California</div><div class="pay-range"><span>$186,960</span><span class="divider">&mdash;</span><span>$265,390 USD</span></div></div></div><div class="content-conclusion"><div style="line-height: 1;"> </div> <div style="line-height: 1;"><strong>COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS</strong></div> <div style="line-height: 1;"> </div> <div style="line-height: 1;"> <div> <div data-qa="message_pane"> <div> <div id="message-list"> <div id="message-list"> <div data-qa="slack_kit_scrollbar"> <div> <div data-qa="slack_kit_list"> <div id="message-list_1770163429.476589" data-qa="virtual-list-item" data-item-key="1770163429.476589"> <div data-qa="message_container" data-qa-unprocessed="false" data-qa-placeholder="false" data-msg-ts="1770163429.476589" data-msg-channel-id="D1T52LDR4"> <div data-qa-hover="true"> <div> <div> <div> <div data-qa="message_content"> <div> <div data-qa="message-text"> <div data-qa="block-kit-renderer"> <div> <div> <div>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.</div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div id="message-list_bottomSpacer" data-qa="virtual-list-item" data-item-key="bottomSpacer"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div> <div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div style="line-height: 1;"> <p><strong>U.S. EXPORT CONTROL COMPLIANCE STATUS</strong></p> 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.</div> <div style="line-height: 1;"> </div> <p style="line-height: 1;"><strong>EQUAL OPPORTUNITY</strong></p> <div style="line-height: 1;">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.</div></div>