Vast is looking for a VP, Avionics, reporting to the Chief Technical Officer, to accelerate the development of the electronic and computer systems that are at the heart of our artificial-gravity human-rated space stations. This will be a full-time, exempt position located in our Long Beach location.

As the leader of the avionics team, you will have the unique opportunity to define the culture and operation of a critical team responsible for designing the spacecraft. You will create electronics and systems that touch all parts of the vehicle and comprise the control backbone that interacts with the work of every group and discipline that engineers the vehicle.

The ideal candidate will have a proven track record of team leadership, creating custom electrical systems with a flair for power systems, computing, networking and sensing systems. Avionics are the electronics providing the means to operate and control the vehicle, including computers, navigation sensors, imaging sensors, audio, crew interfaces, radio communications, power generation, power storage, power distribution, motion control, propulsion activation, stability control, pumps, ventilation, life support control and many other functions.

Responsibilities:

• Build a world class Avionics team of talented designers, system, layout and component engineers. Recruit, interview, and hire top talent.
• Guide team in safety critical system design utilizing fault tolerant systems architectures.
• Assess third party products for make/buy design decisions.
• Lead team against clear milestones and delivery expectations. Achieve on-time integration and qualification results.
• Define or tailor existing standards for space qualified hardware including attention to component derating, leakage and creepage distances, board layout, manufacturing, harness and connector selection.
• Work with your design team to leverage cost effective automotive grade components to create bespoke designs.
• Guide your engineers to select components and designs for radiation tolerance. Test components and designs for radiation tolerance for operation in low earth orbit (LEO) environments.
• Lead by example and foster a team culture of delivering results, shared knowledge & documentation, accountability, excellence, collaboration, transparency, and trust..
• Collaborate with other design teams to create tightly integrated, interdisciplinary vehicle designs.
• Create representative vehicle and sub-system test systems to support hardware and software development and testing.
• Foster a culture of extreme ownership, encouraging engineers to understand system level interactions and functionality, in addition to delivering high quality modules or sub-systems.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, or other engineering discipline.
• 10+ years of experience working as an Electrical Engineer or Avionics Engineer.
• 5+ years leading electrical engineering design teams.

Preferred Skills & Experience:

• Electrical design experience in the Space Industry.
• Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering or similar relevant discipline.
• RF communications and high-frequency board-level design experience.
• Circuit simulation and modeling.
• Power systems design experience .

Additional Requirements:

• Ability to travel up to 20% of the time.
• Willingness to work overtime, or weekends to support critical mission milestones.