Head of Mission Management

Vast is looking for a Head of Mission Management reporting to the Chief Operating Officer. In this role, you will shape Vast’s technical direction, customer experience, and programmatic success as we build the next generation of human-rated commercial space stations. This role provides executive ownership and contract execution for Vast’s NASA CLD program, end-to-end crewed mission management for Haven missions, and transportation providers. In addition, you will own the human certification process for all missions.

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

Responsibilities:

• Lead a team of mission managers responsible for crew, payload, & transportation provider contract execution and integration of teams across the company to achieve mission and program needs.
• Responsible for all missions achieving human certification requirements.
• Serve as the primary technical interface to customers such as NASA and major stakeholders, leading reviews and presenting mission designs, trade studies, risks, and program recommendations. Accountable for customer happiness and success throughout the program life cycle.
• Lead all aspects of NASA’s Commercial LEO Destinations program execution including capture, proposal development, contract award, verification, certification, integration, test, and flight operations.
• Oversee end-to-end delivery of crewed and payload missions, including providing technical pre-sales support, customer onboarding, mission unique requirement accommodation, training, launch, on-orbit operations, return, rehabilitation, and all ICD development and control.
• Own and execute the human certification process ensuring all teams achieve the rigorous standards necessary for human spaceflight safety.
• Direct development and execution of integrated mission and program schedules, ensuring all milestones, deliverables, and payment events are achieved on time.
• Build, mentor, and scale high-performing engineering, mission, and proposal teams, fostering clarity, prioritization, and strong decision-making across the program.
• Collaborate across all business functions including engineering, production, supply chain and operations to assess vehicle readiness, evaluate design trades, and manage risks that impact mission requirements and launch timelines.
• Ensure all customer deliverables are completed on time and in full accordance with contractual and payment milestone requirements.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering or a related engineering discipline.
• 10+ years of leadership experience within space missions or spaceflight organizations.
• 10+ years of experience in spacecraft or payload design, testing, and/or hardware delivery.
• Proven experience interfacing with government agencies—ideally NASA—on complex technical programs.
• Strong background in systems engineering or technical program management for space missions.

Preferred Skills & Experience:

• Ability to execute complex project management that drives a project schedule forward, while minimizing the overall impact to other engineering efforts across the company.
• Experience building and leading engineering and cross-functional teams.
• Ability to own and manage multiple concurrent development and test programs with varied timelines.
• Be a simplifier of topics, able to easily interact with management and team members with a focus on improving business performance. Comfortable driving team performance while balancing the needs of a fast growth tech company in a rapidly changing environment.

Additional Requirements:

• Ability to travel up to 25% of the time.
• Willingness to work evenings and/or weekends to support critical mission milestones.

Pay Range:

• Head of Mission Management: $250,000 -$350,000