Staff Waste Management Engineer, Life Support Systems

Vast is looking for a(n) Staff Waste Management Engineer, Space Life Support Systems, reporting to the Director of Life Support Systems, to support the development of the systems that will be required for the design and build of artificial-gravity human-rated space stations. Use this space to describe the role and sell the candidate on the cool stuff they would get to work on. 

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

Responsibilities: 

• Own the design dev, build, test and flight of all waste management systems for our space stations, from space toilet to water recovery from human waste to trash management
• Iterate on manufacturing processes and development testing in a fast-paced environment
• Own the project delivery timeline from early design through production, launch, and orbit insertion
• Perform systems engineering tasks and fluid analyses
• Lead design reviews internally and externally with suppliers and customers
• Work with interdisciplinary stakeholders to ensure the component will integrate with the necessary avionics, software, and mission operations systems
• Make sure that all designs are manufacturable and reliable
• Bring technical excellence to everything you do

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in an engineering or science discipline
• 7+ years of experience working with fluid or environmental control systems or components
• 5+ years of hands-on hardware experience performing fabrication, assembly and/or testing

Preferred Skills & Experience:

• Can-do attitude to do the ‘dirty job’ for commercial space waste management systems
• Master's degree in an engineering discipline
• Proactive problem-solving skills such as failure analysis, root cause investigation, and design of experiment creation
• Ability to perform trade studies using first principles and engineering fundamentals to make clear recommendations even with partial information
• Experience with rotating machinery
• Experience with soft goods
• Experience with waste management systems at zero-g
• Experienced in NX
• Solid understanding and application of geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T) and tolerance stack-up analysis
• Experience with structural analysis methods (hand calcs, FEMAP, ANSYS) in order to optimize hardware to strength requirements as well as to evaluate for life and fracture
• Knowledge of metallic and fluid system manufacturing techniques, processes, equipment, and other processes such as machining, welding, brazing, tube bending, etcetera
• Able to work well in an integrated collaborative team environment, including frequent interactions with technicians, other engineers, and managers
• Highly self-motivated with strong organizational and written/oral communication skills – able to prioritize and execute tasks in a high-pressure environment with the ongoing drive for continuous improvement in all aspects of work

Additional Requirements:

• Ability to travel up to 50% of the time
• Willingness to work evenings and/or weekends to support critical mission milestones
• Ability to lift up to 25lbs unassisted
• Specific certifications, as appropriate

Pay Range: 

• Staff Engineer L4: $160,000-$200,000