Senior System Architect, Lunar

The role

The Senior System Architect, Lunar will support the development of systems for the Vast Lunar ecosystem. This role involves defining end-to-end system architecture for surface habitats, power, communications, logistics, and crew systems.

What you will do

• Define, develop, and maintain the end-to-end system architecture for Vast's Lunar ecosystem
• Translate NASA Moon Base architecture, mission needs, and human-rating requirements into Vast system requirements, concepts of operations, and interface control documents
• Perform architecture trade studies across mission design, transportation, lander compatibility, surface element sizing, autonomy, and in-situ resource utilization
• Adapt and extend Haven Demo, Haven-1, Haven Station, and Vast Satellite technologies to the lunar environment
• Collaborate daily with internal engineering teams to decompose architecture into executable subsystem designs
• Develop and manage system budgets for mass, power, data, thermal, and consumables
• Identify architecture-level risks, drive mitigation strategies, and support program milestone reviews
• Represent Vast's lunar architecture with external partners, suppliers, and customers

Required qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Systems Engineering, or related field
• 6+ years of experience in design ownership, systems integration, test engineering
• At least 1+ years of systems engineering focused experience
• Experience owning system-level architecture, requirements, and interfaces across the full lifecycle
• Strong working knowledge of spacecraft subsystems and their interactions
• Excellent communication skills to present complex technical trades to executives, customers, and engineers
• Willingness to work evenings and/or weekends to support critical mission milestones
• Ability to travel up to 20% of the time to support customer meetings

Nice to have

• Strong systems-level intuition and experience in technical leadership roles on spacecraft, launch vehicles, or other mission- or safety-critical systems
• Experience working on lunar engineering programs
• Comprehensive understanding of one or more core engineering disciplines
• Demonstrated experience working with NASA or other government customers
• Hands-on experience with requirements and/or project management tools
• Experience leading design reviews (PDR, CDR) and verification campaigns
• Familiarity with NASA's Moon Base program, Artemis architecture, human-rating standards, and/or commercial partnership models
• Experience with crewed systems, habitats, or life support in extreme environments
• Experience in a fast-paced, hardware-rich startup environment with rapid design-build-test cycles
• Experience standing up new programs or teams from the ground up

Benefits

• company equity
• 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

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.