Vast is looking for a Senior Industrial Designer, reporting to the Senior Manager, Industrial Design, to support the development of the systems that will be required for the design and build of artificial-gravity human-rated space stations. 

In this role, you will help define how our vehicles look, feel, and function for the astronauts who live and work in them, translating technical requirements, engineering constraints, and human factors into compelling, production-ready hardware.

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

Responsibilities:

• Design cutting-edge space habitat exteriors
• Design human-centered interior environments and interfaces for astronauts
• Perform end-to-end industrial design of hardware, from early concept through production
• Translate vehicle requirements, engineering constraints, and human factors into compelling physical products
• Develop and communicate design concepts using sketches, CAD models, renderings, and physical prototypes
• Collaborate cross-functionally with engineering, manufacturing, and supply chain teams
• Support CMF (color, material, finish) strategy for both interior and exterior vehicle design
• Rapidly prototype and iterate to prove design ideas
• Contribute to design standards, guidelines, and visual language for the company’s products
• Present design work to leadership and stakeholders, clearly articulating trade-offs and rationale

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design, Engineering, or a related discipline
• 5+ years of industrial design experience
• Expertise with CAD tools such as NX, SolidWorks, Rhino, or similar
• Expertise with visualization tools such as KeyShot, Blender
• Strong understanding of materials, manufacturing processes, and design for production
• Strong grasp of human factors and ergonomics
• Excellent communication and storytelling skills
• Experience building and testing full-scale prototypes

Preferred Skills & Experience:

• Experience designing hardware in aerospace, automotive, transportation, or other highly engineered product environments
• Experience designing both exterior vehicle forms and interior human-centered environments
• Ability to translate complex technical and human factors requirements into clear design solutions
• Experience working closely with engineering, manufacturing, and supply chain teams through development and production
• Strong capability in concept generation, visualization, CAD development, and physical prototyping
• Experience contributing to design systems, product standards, or visual language across a hardware portfolio
• Comfort presenting design rationale, trade-offs, and recommendations to leadership and cross-functional stakeholders

Additional Requirements

• 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