Senior CMF Designer

The role

You will lead the development of optimized materials, colors, and details for artificial-gravity human-rated space stations. You will work with industrial designers, material engineers, and supply chain to define the astronaut experience through cutting edge materials.

What you will do

• Own and evolve the CMF design strategy for the space station experience
• Apply expertise in design specifications and manufacturing requirements to develop concepts
• Lead cross-functional collaboration and negotiation with manufacturing, suppliers, and engineering
• Build and maintain a CMF materials library and design standards
• Source, vet, and manage a network of vendors and fabricators
• Partner with outside test agencies to validate new materials
• Present CMF strategy and design direction to leadership and stakeholders
• Identify and de-risk material and finish decisions

Required qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Industrial Design, Transportation Design, Material Science, or equivalent experience
• 6+ years of related professional CMF design experience
• Proven track record of leading CMF design strategy independently on complex, highly engineered products
• Ability to travel up to 20% of the time
• Willingness to work overtime, or weekends to support critical mission milestones
• Ability to lift up to 25 lbs unassisted
• Specific certifications, as appropriate

Nice to have

• Prior CMF experience in aerospace, automotive, transportation, or other highly regulated/certified product environments
• Direct exposure to human-rated or spaceflight hardware standards
• Demonstrated ability to build physical prototypes
• Strong conceptual design skills including sketching, modeling, mock-ups, and visual storytelling
• Track record of driving ideation and concept generation under tight timelines
• Advanced proficiency across relevant design software
• Experience creating and managing RFPs, POs, and facilities work orders within an ERP system
• Demonstrated experience mentoring or leading other designers
• Excellent judgment and ability to make sound decisions independently
• Strong communication skills

Benefits

• medical, dental, and vision coverage for employees and dependents
• generous paid time off
• up to 20+ days of vacation for exempt staff
• 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
• snacks, drip coffee & onsite barista, cold drinks, and dinner meals remaining free of charge
• lunch subsidized

About the company

Vast is developing next-generation space stations and space infrastructure. Headquartered in Long Beach, California, the company has more than 1,000 employees.