Head of Special Programs

Vast is looking for a Head of Special Programs, reporting to the Chief Policy Officer, to support the development of the systems that will be required for the design and build of artificial-gravity human-rated space stations.

This person will lead all national security focused business development for Haven-1 and future Vast systems. This role will lead customer engagement, opportunity development, capture strategy, and partnership efforts that advance Vast’s initiatives to operate the world’s leading in-space infrastructure in support of national security objectives.

This will be a full-time, exempt position located in our Washington D.C. location.

Responsibilities:

• Strategic Leadership
  • Develop and execute a comprehensive national security market strategy aligned with Vast’s revenue and mission objectives.
  • Collaborate with Leadership, Engineering, Marketing, Legal, Communications, and other internal teams to ensure alignment between national security customer needs and station development priorities.
  • Coordinate the preparation and delivery of space-relevant national security threat briefings to support strategic planning and defense engagement activities.
  • Lead internal planning for national security opportunity prioritization, capture strategy, and pipeline development.

• Business Development and Capture Execution
  • Lead customer engagement across opportunity identification, mission scoping, capability briefings, and early concept development.
  • Identify, shape, and advance opportunities for national security use of Vast systems across crewed missions, experimentation, training, test and evaluation, and payload hosting.
  • Lead proposal development and coordinate cross functional contributions from engineering, program management, legal, and operations teams.
  • Manage pipeline development, forecasting, and reporting across all national security accounts.
  • Negotiate and close contracts for national security missions and associated services.

• External Representation
  • Represent Vast at national security, aerospace, and space industry events where defense and government stakeholders are present.
  • Deliver presentations, participate in panels, and provide senior-level briefings that communicate the capabilities and value of Vast stations.
  • Support Communications and Marketing in the development and delivery of defense-related public materials, messaging, and engagement strategies.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, physics, aerospace, business, or a related field.
• 10+ years of relevant experience including substantial work in Department of Defense business development, capture management, special programs, or defense contracting.
• Deep understanding of DoD procurement and contract structures, including IDIQ, OTA, FFP, CPFF, Programs of Record, and SBIR Phase III.
• Demonstrated experience leading efforts that secured Programs of Record, including strategy, teaming, and proposal.
• Excellent communication, analytical, collaboration, and interpersonal skills.
• Strong technical understanding and ability to communicate complex systems to defense audiences.
• Excellent communication, analytical, collaboration, and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to operate independently, prioritize effectively, and manage multiple efforts simultaneously in a fast paced environment.

Preferred Skills & Experience:

• Master’s degree in engineering, science, business, or a national security discipline.
• Experience working with the U.S. Space Force, Space Development Agency, Defense Innovation Unit, DARPA, Air Force, or similar organizations.
• Strong understanding of the flexible acquisition approaches DoD uses to explore new technologies, support research and experimentation, and rapidly evaluate emerging commercial capabilities.
• Ability to work in classified environments.

Additional Requirements:

• Ability to travel up to 30% of the time
• TS/SCI with CI Polygraph.