Senior Manager, Communications

Long Beach, California, United States

At Vast, our mission is to contribute to a future where billions of people are living and thriving in space. We are building artificial gravity space stations, allowing long-term stays in space without the adverse effects of zero-gravity. Our initial crewed space habitat will be Haven-1, scheduled to be the world’s first commercial space station when it launches into low earth orbit in August 2025. 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 seeking a Senior Manager, Communications to join our team. Reporting to the VP of Communications, you are a creative, thoughtful, and experienced communications professional that will focus on elevating and amplifying Vast’s corporate narrative, executive thought leadership, story mining through internal and external written communications, and social media channels.

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

Responsibilities: 

  • Work closely with communications, legal, policy, or tech colleagues to land business and tech-focused stories related to support Vast's business goals
  • Work closely with external PR agencies and maintain relationships with key influencers
  • Work closely with content and owned channel team members on thought leadership campaigns
  • Manage reactive media inquiries
  • Collaborate with partners and customers on storytelling moments
  • Have a pulse on the space landscape and how Vast is differentiating itself. Identify gaps and opportunities to strengthen our efforts
  • Develop stories and/or content for events and announcements
  • Work directly with the VP of Comms, to support business goals across the company, helping to create strategic communications plans to drive their brand, voice, and thought leadership within and outside of Vast
  • Design and produce executive visibility programs that turn ideas into compelling narratives, frameworks, and creative storytelling concepts
  • Deliver executive-level work products including scripts, speeches, op-eds, and awards applications and partner with department peers on videos, partnership, and social media amplification plans
  • Prepare executives with rehearsals, scripts, media training etc., while project managing the overall communications schedules
  • Help plan and support events, including all-hands, press events, and announcements
  • Partner with departments to ensure consistency in internal communications
  • Work with Government Affairs and Legal teams to support public affairs initiatives
  • Serve as a resource across the Marketing to ensure message alignment and consistency across all audiences, including customers and partners

Minimum Qualifications:

  • 5-8 years of experience in communications, public affairs, or internal communications
  • 3+ years of experience in media relations, journalism, corporate storytelling and/or a related field
  • A strategic counselor with the ability to influence senior leaders on strategy, messaging, and engagement opportunities to drive pride, passion, and action for our function
  • The capacity to work quickly and decisively to meet deadlines
  • Ability to translate business strategies into compelling narratives
  • Ability to manage complex projects in a fast-changing environment

Preferred Skills & Experience:

  • Bachelor’s degree in English, journalism, communications, public affairs, or equivalent career experience
  • Experience working in a startup environment or in tech
  • Experience distilling technical products and processes into simple, digestible bits of communication
  • A talent for collaborating effectively and diplomatically with several stakeholders across research, engineering, communications, marketing and social media teams, as well as to work effectively with external partners and customers outside the company
  • Experience as part of an in-house communications team
  • Relentlessly curious and unwilling to settle for surface level understanding. Be ready to become an expert on all things Vast!
  • A keen interest and curiosity about tech trends, especially aerospace
  • A growth mindset and the desire to experiment with new and emerging forms of storytelling to reach a broad set of audiences
  • Self-starter, comfortable with ambiguity and the ability to juggle multiple priorities under tight deadlines in a fast-paced, changing environment

Additional Requirements:

  • Ability to travel up to 10% of the time
  • Willingness to work evenings and/or weekends to support critical mission milestones

Salary Range: California

$140,000 - $200,000 USD

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: 100% medical, dental, and vision coverage for employees and dependents, flexible paid time off for exempt staff and up to 15 days of vacation for non-exempt staff, paid parental leave, short and long-term disability insurance, life insurance, free catered meals and snacks and beverages, access to a 401(k) retirement plan, One Medical membership, ClassPass credits, personalized mental healthcare through Spring Health, and other discounts and perks.

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.

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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:

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