Vast is looking for a Director, Government Affairs and National Security Programs, reporting to the Vice President of Government Affairs, to support the development of the systems that will be required for the design and build of artificial-gravity human-rated space stations. 

They will lead and expand the company’s engagement with the U.S. Department of Defense and associated national security stakeholders. This role will drive policy, partnership, and advocacy strategies to advance Vast’s initiatives to launch and operate the world’s leading commercial space stations in support of both civil and national security space objectives.

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

Responsibilities:

• Strategic Leadership
  
  • Develop and execute a comprehensive DoD and national security engagement strategy aligned with Vast’s government affairs and policy objectives.
    Collaborate across internal teams including Legal, Programs, Engineering, and Business Development to align advocacy efforts with mission and programmatic priorities.
• DoD and Interagency Engagement
  
  • Build and maintain strong relationships with key offices within the Department of Defense, U.S. Space Force, Air Force, Space Development Agency (SDA), Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), and other defense-related organizations.
    Engage with relevant Congressional committees and staff, particularly those overseeing defense, space, and appropriations matters.
    Coordinate with the National SecurityCouncil (NSC), Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and others in the Executive Office of the President (EOP) when cross-agency alignment is required.
• Policy and Advocacy
  
  • Monitor, analyze, and interpret U.S. defense and national security policy, legislation, and appropriations developments impacting commercial space capabilities.
  • Prepare policy briefs, talking points, and legislative summaries to inform internal leadership and support strategic decision-making.
  • Develop recommendations and written submissions for defense-related requests for information (RFIs), trade reports, and industry-government engagements.
• Program and Partnership Support
  
  • Collaborate with Vast’s business development team to support DoD-related contracting opportunities, cooperative agreements, and partnerships.
  • Identify emerging defense needs where Vast’s commercial capabilities can contribute to resilience, mission assurance, and space domain awareness objectives.
  • Provide policy support for defense-related technology initiatives, security reviews, and regulatory engagement.

Minimum Qualifications:

• 6+ years of professional experience in government affairs and/or relevant experience.

Preferred Skills & Experience:

• Experience working on DOD space programs and policies.
• Experience with government contracting and government procurement.
• Experience with Congressional appropriations and the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) process.
• Proven ability to adapt to rapidly changing priorities and schedules with ease and grace.
• Ability to simplify complex concepts into straightforward and concise explanations.
• Comfortable operating outside of areas of expertise and in new territory.
• Excellent communication, analytical, collaboration, and interpersonal skills.
• Self-starter with excellent time-management and prioritization skills.

Additional Requirements:

• Ability to travel up to 25% of the time.
• Ability to obtain appropriate security clearance to support DOD space programs.

Keller Postman represents a broad array of clients in class and mass actions, individual arbitrations, and multidistrict litigation matters at the trial and appellate levels in federal and state courts. Serving hundreds of thousands of clients in litigation and arbitration, we have prosecuted high-profile mass tort, antitrust, privacy, product liability, employment, and consumer-rights cases. Our firm also acts as plaintiffs’ counsel in high-stakes public-enforcement actions. Our mission is to achieve exceptional results for our clients, drive innovation in the practice of law, and pursue unparalleled excellence in everything we do. 

Purpose: Keller Postman seeks applications from rising 2L students interested in plaintiffs' work for our 2027 Summer Associate Program. Summer Associates will complete varied substantive assignments, connect with Keller Postman attorneys and staff, and learn about the important and innovative work we do at the firm. Summer Associates will be based in either our Chicago or D.C. office. Bi-weekly compensation is based on a yearly salary of $175,000. Summer Associates must spend eight (8) to ten (10) consecutive weeks with us, typically from late May or early June to early or mid-August. 

Application Materials: Please submit your resume, legal writing sample, and law school transcript. Unofficial transcripts are acceptable; if you apply with only Fall grades, please send an update when you have Spring grades to careers@kellerpostman.com. Cover letters are optional, but encouraged (we'd love to know why you are interested in plaintiffs' work and KP). 

Deadline: Please submit your application by May 27, 2025. Interviews (conducted virtually) will begin shortly thereafter. 

Information Management Technology Division (IMTD) provides software development, operations and maintenance of a variety of systems and initiatives supporting IMS business areas. IMTD focuses on streamlining operations, automating processes, and aligning IM Solutions to IMS' s overarching digital architecture. IMTD's mission is to promote state-of-the-art IT solutions for IMS business systems. In doing so, IMTD collaborates with IT mission partners to not only share technology and lessons learned, but also ensure records management processes and requirements are included in the early design stages of IT solutions across the Sponsor and IC. Additionally, IMTD works in concert with the IMS Tech Director to ensure future plans for technology in the division are in line with the plans for the overall IMS architecture. IMTD' s specific responsibilities are performed via seven (7) teams plus IMTD Front Office support. Teams consist of: B2i, Data Migration Team (DMT), Electronic Document OCR and exploitation (eDox), GitSMART, Electronic Records Analysis Team (ERAT), and Integration Center (Ctr).

Qualifications

• Must have a TS/SCI with Poly
• BS/BA in Software Engineering, Science, Mathematics, or similar OR equivalent combination of education and experience
• Team leadership ability with people skills
• Proficient in Java
• Experience with JavaScript / Typescript
• Must know to use an IDE to code (ex – IntelliJ, Eclipse, NetBeans)
• Hands on experience with cloud technology (AWS / C2S)
• Experience with web services (REST) and service oriented architecture (SOA) – Spring Boot, Tomcat
• Experience with relational databases (ex - Oracle / MySql)
• Experience with interacting in a Linux environment (ex - Bash scripting, VI)
• Ability to work well with others as well as independently
• Ability to work well in a constantly evolving work environment

Desired

• Experience with front end development (ex - Angular 2+, React, HTML, CSS, JQuery)
• Experience with Microservices
• Familiarity with Source code management and integration (ex - GitHub/GitLab, Jenkins)
• Experience in an Agile environment
• Experience with testing frameworks (ex – Junit, Mockito, Swagger, Postman)

Vast is looking for a Head of Civil Programs, reporting to the Chief Policy Officer, to define and lead Vast’s strategy, engagement, and execution for NASA programs across Haven-1 and future Vast programs.

This will be a full-time, exempt position located on-site at our Long Beach, CA location. 

Responsibilities

Program Capture and Growth

• Lead capture efforts for NASA programs, from early opportunity shaping through proposal and award.
• Guide competitive positioning, teaming strategies, and proposal development in coordination with internal stakeholders.
• Develop and manage a multi-year NASA opportunity pipeline aligned with agency planning cycles and budgets.
  

Civil Space Strategy

• Develop and own Vast’s NASA civil space strategy aligned with agency priorities, mission needs, and program capabilities.
• Identify near-term and long-range NASA mission opportunities that leverage Haven-1 and future Vast programs.
• Provide strategic guidance to company leadership on program focus, timing, and positioning.
• Apply first principles thinking to Government needs to shape programs to rapidly deliver superior results for the Nation.
• Collaborate closely with Vast’s Government Affairs team and external advisors.

NASA Engagement and Mission Development

• Build and maintain senior-level relationships across NASA Headquarters, Mission Directorates, and Centers.
• Serve as one of Vast’s primary executive interfaces with NASA stakeholders.
• Work closely with internal teams to translate NASA objectives into viable mission concepts and program approaches.

Strategy-to-Execution Alignment

• Ensure NASA requirements and expectations are clearly understood across engineering, program, legal, and operations teams.
• Support technical and programmatic reviews, milestones, and customer engagements as programs mature.
• Help establish program foundations that enable successful execution beyond contract award.

External Representation

• Represent Vast at NASA-focused forums, customer meetings, and industry events.
• Present Vast station and future system capabilities and operational concepts to NASA stakeholders.
• Support the development of NASA-facing narratives and outreach materials as needed.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, science, or a related technical field.
• 10+ years of experience working with NASA or NASA-funded civil space programs.
• Demonstrated success leading NASA program capture, proposal efforts, or mission development.
• Strong understanding of NASA program lifecycles and operational environments.
• Excellent communication skills across technical, programmatic, and executive audiences.

Preferred Skills and Experience

• Master’s degree in engineering, systems engineering, or business.
• Experience with human spaceflight systems, in-space infrastructure, or operational space programs.
• Familiarity with NASA processes for advancing programs from concept through operations.
• Ability to lead complex efforts independently in a fast-moving environment.
• Passion for building the operational and technological foundations for sustained human presence in space.

Additional Requirements

• Ability to travel up to 30% of the time.

Vast is looking for a Head of Special Programs, reporting to the Chief Policy Officer, to 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.