Senior Power Engineer

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 seeking a Senior Power Engineer to own the power system architecture and development for a new constellation-ready 15kW spacecraft bus — a product line designed to scale to hundreds of spacecraft per year. This will be a full-time, exempt position located in our Long Beach location. About the role:You'll define the power system architecture for a 15kW-class spacecraft bus — topology, bus voltage, battery sizing, power electronics, and fault protection. You own the architecture decisions, the end-to-end power budget, and the power quality requirements that payload customers must meet. You'll determine what needs to be built new versus what can be reused from heritage, define requirements for any new avionics boxes, and work with the electronics lead to get them built. You'll also coordinate with the solar array and battery teams on electrical performance and any modifications needed for this mission.Responsibilities: Define the power architecture — DET vs MPPT topology, bus voltage selection, battery sizing, solar array string configurationDefine requirements for power electronics boxes — the electronics lead builds the boards, you own what they need to do and how they're testedOwn the power budget — detailed by mode (safe, nominal, peak, eclipse), closed with margin for all payload configurations including high-power compute payloadsCoordinate with the internal battery team — assess whether the heritage battery meets this mission's requirements and define any modifications neededCoordinate with the solar array team on array electrical performance — cell selection, string voltage, degradation, articulation strategyOwn power distribution — evaluate heritage options or define new requirements as the architecture demandsDefine requirements for SADA and solar array release mechanism procurementDefine and tailor bus power quality requirements — voltage regulation, transient response, inrush management, EMI/EMC (tailored from MIL-STD-461 or equivalent) — and work with payload customers to flow down and verify complianceOwn fault protection and safe mode power management — undervoltage protection, load shedding, safe mode power profilesSupport system-level power trades — how do high-power payloads affect battery sizing, solar array sizing, and eclipse performance?Contribute power budget and architecture trade results to the spacecraft design and simulation toolchainBuild a power engineering team as the program scales from first build to production rateMinimum Qualifications:Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related technical discipline6+ years of spacecraft power system design experience — solar array, battery, bus regulation, power distributionExperience with power architecture trades (DET vs MPPT, bus voltage selection)Power budget development and management across multiple operating modesBattery management system experience — charge control, cell balancing, state of charge estimationUnderstanding of solar array electrical performance — I-V curves, temperature coefficients, radiation degradationExperience taking a power electronics box from requirements through functional testComfortable managing heritage reuse — assessing whether existing hardware meets new mission requirementsPreferred Skills & Experience:Full lifecycle experience with spacecraft power systems — requirements, design, build, test, flight, and on-orbit operationsAble to obtain a security clearanceExperience with high-power spacecraft buses (5kW+ class)SADA (solar array drive actuator) selection and integration experiencePower system experience across multi-satellite buildsFamiliarity with LiIon battery electrochemistry and cell-level performance modelingFault protection and autonomous power management experiencePay Range: California$137,760—$195,552 USDCOMPENSATION AND BENEFITSBase 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 STATUSThe 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 OPPORTUNITYVast 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.