Propulsion Test Engineer

Vast•Mojave, CA

1d•$86,000 - $195,000•Onsite

About The Position

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 Propulsion Test Engineer, reporting to the Propulsion Test Manager, to support the development of the propulsion systems that will be required for the design and build of artificial-gravity human-rated space stations.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in aerospace or mechanical engineering or related field
2+ years of experience in the operation, design, and development of chemical propulsion and/or fluid systems, or hardware testing

Nice To Haves

Propulsion experience in collegiate rocket program
Experience with NX and Teamcenter
Experience with Epsilon3
Experience with JIRA / Confluence
Experience with controls & data acquisition systems (e.g., Beckhoff/TwinCAT, National Instruments/LabVIEW)
Experience building and testing high pressure fluid systems
Tube fitting & bending, familiarity with common industry fittings systems
Read & interpret Plumbing and Instrumentation Diagrams (P&IDs)
Excellent communication skills, both written and oral
Ability to work in multi-disciplinary teams
Ability and willingness to thrive in a fast-paced, rapidly changing work environment

Responsibilities

Perform thruster development, acceptance and qualification hot-fire testing
Lead hazardous operations including work with high pressure fluids
Write test procedures for hazardous operations
Prepare and lead Test Readiness Reviews (TRRs)
Work side by side with the test stand technicians during test article install and inspection
Maintain and design modifications to test stand fluids and electrical systems to meet current and expanding test requirements
Work collaboratively with Long Beach based responsible engineers to meet test requirements, design test stand modifications, and debug test stand problems rapidly