Manager, Structures Manufacturing Engineering
Vast SpaceForge structures that ensure the safety and durability of Haven Station modules. As Manager, Structures Manufacturing Engineering at Vast Space in Long Beach, California, you will lead a team to design, fabricate, and assemble load-bearing components with precision tolerances, ensuring every weld bead meets rigorous standards. Your work will span from intricate 6-axis robotic assembly lines to robust circuit board installations, all critical for the success of Haven-1, the world’s first commercial space station. This is where the future of human habitation in space gets built.
View original listingAbout This Role
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 looking for a Manager, Structures Manufacturing Engineering, reporting to the Senior Director of Manufacturing, to support the development of the systems that will be required for the design and build of artificial-gravity human-rated space stations.
This will be a full-time, exempt position located in our Long Beach location.
Responsibilities
- Lead, mentor, and grow a high-performing team of manufacturing engineers and technicians; establish skills matrices, drive competency development, and build succession plans for critical roles.
- Develop, stabilize, and continuously improve manufacturing processes for metallic aerospace structures (welding, trimming, rolling, bending, shearing, and related operations).
- Design, implement, and qualify welding cells, fabrication tooling, fixtures, jigs, and production workstations for primary structure manufacturing.
- Own manufacturing planning, including creation and updates of work instructions, routings, inspection steps, and ERP/MRP configuration.
- Drive root-cause analysis and corrective actions for manufacturing non-conformances in partnership with Quality and Design Engineering.
- Collaborate with Design Engineering to assess and improve designs for manufacturability and to support smooth transitions from development to production.
- Identify, evaluate, and introduce new manufacturing technologies and automation solutions to increase throughput, quality, and efficiency.
- Lead the build and inspection processes for structural assembly, ensuring compliance with all safety, quality, and delivery requirements.
- Develop and optimize production floor layouts, capacity models, and product flow to support schedule commitments and vehicle delivery timelines.
- Scope, justify, and implement capital equipment, facility, and tooling upgrades required to support long-term manufacturing scalability.
Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or comparable STEM field.
- Experience working in fast-paced development environments with evolving designs and requirements.
- Extensive experience developing or improving manufacturing processes, tools, or products, particularly for metallic structures or assemblies.
- Proven experience managing a product or product line across multiple workcenters and/or departments.
- Experience leading manufacturing through development-to-production transitions for new products or programs.
- Demonstrated ability to resolve non-conformances and drive effective root-cause and corrective actions.
- 3+ Years in a manufacturing environment.
Preferred Skills & Experience
- Prior leadership experience managing engineers in a high-performance environment.
- Strong understanding of welding and fabrication processes, with the ability to provide clear design feedback.
- Experience with aerospace tooling or flight design and fabrication from concept through production.
- Proficiency with CAD systems (NX, Teamcenter).
- Strong understanding of GD&T and ability to interpret complex engineering drawings.
- Experience working with and defining requirements for ERP, MRP, and MES systems.
- Hands-on experience with aerospace welding processes (TIG, Plasma, repair techniques).
- Familiarity with aerospace standards, production documentation, Non-destructive evaluation techniques and quality systems.
- 6+ years in aerospace manufacturing environments.
Additional Requirements
- Willingness to work evenings or weekends to support critical program milestones.
- Ability to be on the production floor regularly to support processes, troubleshooting, and team development
Pay Range:
- Manager, Structures Manufacturing Engineering: $ $135,000 - $180,000
- Senior Manager, Structures Manufacturing Engineering: $159,000 - $209,000
U.S. EXPORT CONTROL COMPLIANCE STATUS
The 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 OPPORTUNITY
Requirements
- This will be a full-time, exempt position located in our Long Beach location.
- Responsibilities
- Lead, mentor, and grow a high-performing team of manufacturing engineers and technicians; establish skills matrices, drive competency development, and build succession plans for critical roles.
- Develop, stabilize, and continuously improve manufacturing processes for metallic aerospace structures (welding, trimming, rolling, bending, shearing, and related operations).
- Design, implement, and qualify welding cells, fabrication tooling, fixtures, jigs, and production workstations for primary structure manufacturing.
- Own manufacturing planning, including creation and updates of work instructions, routings, inspection steps, and ERP/MRP configuration.
- Drive root-cause analysis and corrective actions for manufacturing non-conformances in partnership with Quality and Design Engineering.
- Collaborate with Design Engineering to assess and improve designs for manufacturability and to support smooth transitions from development to production.
- Identify, evaluate, and introduce new manufacturing technologies and automation solutions to increase throughput, quality, and efficiency.
- Lead the build and inspection processes for structural assembly, ensuring compliance with all safety, quality, and delivery requirements.
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