Industrial Engineer

Long Beach, California, United States

Vast is developing next-generation space stations and space infrastructure using an incremental, hardware-rich, and low-cost approach. Vast is rapidly developing its multi-module Haven Station 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. 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 in 2027, followed by additional Haven modules. Additionally, the company recently announced Vast Satellite, a high-power satellite product line leveraging its space station components and the heritage of Haven Demo.

Headquartered in Long Beach, California, and with more than 1,000 employees and over a billion dollars in private capital, Vast has built the facilities required to manufacture and operate America’s next space station. The company plans to develop future habitats and systems for the Moon and Mars, dedicated space stations for government partners, and other crewed systems that will unlock the expanding long-term space economy.

Vast is seeking an Industrial Engineer, reporting to the Manager, Industrial Engineering, to design and optimize current and future manufacturing facilities. In this role, you will apply your expertise to creatively design and bring to life the spaces that will build space stations and satellites. The scope of this team spans capacity planning, questioning requirements, first-principles thinking, process simplification, CAD modeling, cross-functional leadership, creative problem solving, and schedule accountability. 

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

Responsibilities: 

  • Design and own factory and production area layouts, maintaining up-to-date floor plans and work center configurations with clear visual indicators and linear flow as guiding principles
  • Lead future-state factory design and capacity planning to meet rate production requirements as the program scales, partnering closely with the Program Operations Engineering team to ensure business objectives are met
  • Partner with production and operations teams to evaluate layout options and space trades, challenging footprint assumptions and right-sizing work centers through an iterative design process that evolves with the program
  • Host regular process walks of production lines, questioning every step to identify what can be deleted, simplified, or standardized, and drive those changes to completion
  • Lead structured continuous improvement programs using Lean, Six Sigma, and value stream methodologies, conducting time and motion studies (MOST, Yamazumi) to identify bottlenecks and implement scalable solutions that measurably improve throughput and reduce cycle time
  • Drive process standardization across products, assemblies, and work centers to reduce variability and build the operational foundation required for sustainable rate scaling
  • Develop tools and analyses to diagnose delivery, capacity, and cost problems, translating production data into clear, actionable decisions for manufacturing and operations leadership
  • Conduct job walks with vendors, negotiate pricing, and hold vendors accountable to schedule
  • Execute complex projects with urgency, minimizing time and cost to the business — get hands-on, lead by example, and get things done

Basic Qualifications: 

  • Bachelor's degree in Industrial, Manufacturing, Mechanical, or related engineering discipline
  • 1+ years of professional or internship experience in a manufacturing environment
Preferred Qualifications:
  • Experience as an industrial, operations, or manufacturing engineer in a high-pace developmental or early production manufacturing environment, with exposure to ramping from development through rate production
  • Demonstrated experience in factory layout design, capacity modeling, and process mapping
  • Proficiency in CAD tools for layout and workspace design (e.g. SketchUp, AutoCAD, SolidWorks, or equivalent)

Pay Ranges:

  • Industrial Engineer I: $84,460.00 - $119,892.00
  • Industrial Engineer II: $96,760.00 - $137,352.00
  • Senior Industrial Engineer: $104,960.00 - $148,992.00
  • Staff Industrial Engineer: $127,920.00 - $181,584.00

Pay Range: California

$84,460 - $181,584 USD

We calibrate level and compensation to the selected candidate's experience and demonstrated capability. We welcome applicants across a range of experience levels to apply.

 

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

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 & 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.


U.S. EXPORT CONTROL COMPLIANCE STATUS

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 22 C.F.R. § 120.62 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.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY

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.

Create a Job Alert

Interested in building your career at Vast? Get future opportunities sent straight to your email.

Apply for this job

*

indicates a required field

Resume/CV*

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Cover Letter

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Education

Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...

If you are not currently employed, please enter “N/A.”

How did you hear about Vast? *
Select...

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 22 C.F.R. § 120.62 or otherwise be considered for deemed export licensing. To assist Vast in assessing its export compliance obligations in relation to your application, please identify which ITAR/EAR status applies to you:

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.

As set forth in Vast’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

Select...
Select...
Race & Ethnicity Definitions

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection. As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measure the effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categories is as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.

Select...