PrincipalManufacturingEngineer

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(n) Principal Manufacturing Engineer, reporting to the Vice President, Manufacturing to support the development of the systems that will be required for the design and build of human-rated space stations. This will be a full-time, exempt position located in our Long Beach location. Responsibilities: Lead the design and continuous Improvement of manufacturing processes and production systems across the factory, with focus on flow, execution, scalability, and business impact. Identify, prioritize, and eliminate bottlenecks across manufacturing, integration, test, inspection, material movement, and production control. Drive the transition from prototype builds to repeatable low-volume production while maintaining speed and flexibility. Develop scalable operating processes, ownership models, and execution rhythms that improve factory performance. Own the strategy and integration for ERP, MRP, MES, PLS, mBOM, routing, work instruction, and production control systems. Serve as