Senior Power Systems Engineer, Lunar

Vast • Long Beach, CA

1d • Onsite

About The Position

Vast is hiring a Senior Power Systems Engineer for its Lunar program, reporting to the Senior Vice President, Lunar Programs. The role will support development of systems for Vast’s Lunar ecosystem, applying technology and experience from the company’s Haven and Vast Satellite programs to lunar exploration. This is a full-time, exempt position based in Long Beach, California.

The engineer will own power-system architecture and hardware development from initial tradeoffs and circuit design through board bring-up, qualification, and integrated system validation. The work includes designing power systems for lunar and cislunar operating conditions, addressing radiation, thermal, and dust-mitigation concerns, and advancing reliability for human-rated applications. The role also includes leading qualification campaigns, presenting work at program reviews, mentoring junior engineers, and developing standards and processes that scale across Vast programs.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering.
• At least 6 years of experience developing power electronics.
• Demonstrated ownership of at least one power-electronics product from architecture through hardware bring-up and validation.
• Willingness to work evenings and/or weekends to support critical mission milestones.
• Ability to travel up to 5% of the time to support customer meetings.

Nice To Haves

• Master's degree in Electrical Engineering with a power-electronics emphasis.
• Experience designing electronics for the spaceflight environment and verifying workmanship and operability through environmental testing, including random vibration, shock, thermal testing, burn-in, and TVAC.
• Experience with hardware intended for beyond-LEO, lunar, planetary, or other high-radiation and extreme-thermal environments, including radiation-tolerant part selection, derating, and screening.
• Experience with human-rated or other high-consequence systems where fault tolerance and single-point-failure retirement drive architecture.
• Professional experience with instrumentation and data acquisition.
• Experience with programming languages or tools such as MATLAB, Python, and C/C++.
• Experience with vehicle and instrumentation buses such as Ethernet, CAN, SPI, and I2C, as well as serial I/O (RS422).
• Experience with full-lifecycle product development, including transition to production and manufacturing support.

Responsibilities

• Own power-system architecture, electronics specification, simulation, schematic capture, PCB design, mechanical packaging design, board-level bring-up and validation, environmental qualification, and integrated system-level validation.
• Define and own power-architecture tradeoffs for lunar applications, including energy storage integration, solar array interfaces, eclipse and survival-mode power budgets, and fault-tolerant distribution topologies.
• Design circuits for power conversion, load switching, hot-swapping, power conditioning, inrush control, and over-current fault detection, with appropriate margins for long-duration lunar surface and cislunar operation.
• Lead radiation, thermal, and dust-mitigation design considerations for power hardware operating beyond LEO, coordinating part selection, derating, and screening.
• Perform failure modes and effects analyses and drive system-level reliability design and validation plans, including single-point-failure retirement for human-rated applications.
• Own qualification campaigns end-to-end, partnering with test labs on random vibration, shock, thermal cycling, burn-in, TVAC, and radiation testing.
• Drive design reviews and present architecture, analysis, and test results to engineering leadership and cross-functional stakeholders at key program milestones.
• Mentor junior engineers, review their designs, and help build power-electronics design standards, component libraries, and processes that scale across Vast programs.
• Work evenings and/or weekends as needed to support critical mission milestones.
• Travel up to 5% of the time to support customer meetings.

Benefits

• Company equity for full-time employees.
• Medical, dental, and vision coverage for employees and dependents.
• Paid time off, including up to 20+ vacation days for 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.
• Other discounts and perks.
• Free snacks, drip coffee, cold drinks, and dinner meals; subsidized lunch.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior