Senior CMF Designer

Vast is looking for a Senior Color Material and Finish Designer reporting to the Senior Manager Industrial Design to lead and own the development of optimized materials colors and details that will be required for the design and build of artificial-gravity human-rated space stations.

You will be working closely with industrial designers material engineers soft good technicians and supply chain to define the experience of our astronauts onboard our space stations such as eating sleeping exercise and more via cutting edge materials. You will own every aspect of the CMF design process end-to-end. This includes spaceflight material heritage research vendor collaboration mood board creation and visual strategy ground up material testing and development and final material production.

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

Responsibilities:

• Own and evolve the Color Material and Finish (CMF) design strategy for the space station experience ensuring materials colors and details add value to the astronaut experience while meeting engineering requirements certification standards and human-rated safety criteria (e.g. flammability off-gassing/toxicity cleanability)
• Apply deep expertise in design specifications and manufacturing requirements to ideate visualize and develop color material and graphic design concepts for transportation/aerospace-grade products with minimal oversight
• Lead cross-functional collaboration and negotiation with manufacturing suppliers and engineering throughout all phases of development driving final CMF designs to production in support of Haven-1 Haven-2 and future program milestones
• Build and maintain a CMF materials library and design standards/guidelines that scale across current and future Vast programs
• Source vet and manage a network of vendors and fabricators independently evaluating tradeoffs in cost performance and innovation
• Partner with outside test agencies to validate new and innovative materials against aerospace and human-rated requirements owning the qualification process
• Present CMF strategy rationale and design direction to design and engineering leadership and cross-functional stakeholders including at key program milestones
• Identify and proactively de-risk material and finish decisions that could impact program schedule cost or certification

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelors degree in Industrial Design Transportation Design Material Science or equivalent experience
• 6 years of related professional CMF design experience including demonstrated ownership of CMF programs from concept through production
• Proven track record of leading CMF design strategy independently on complex highly engineered products

Preferred Skills & Experience:

• Prior CMF experience in aerospace automotive transportation or other highly regulated/certified product environments; direct exposure to human-rated or spaceflight hardware standards a strong plus
• Demonstrated ability to build physical prototypes to express unique design concepts and to lead others in doing the same
• Strong conceptual design skills sketching modeling mock-ups and visual storytelling applied at a strategic as well as hands-on level
• Track record of driving ideation and concept generation under tight timelines and shifting priorities
• Advanced proficiency across relevant design software (e.g. Adobe Creative Suite CAD/3D visualization tools) and general technical fluency across enterprise software
• Experience creating and managing RFPs POs and facilities work orders within an ERP system including basic budget ownership
• Demonstrated experience mentoring or leading other designers formally or informally
• Excellent judgment and ability to make sound decisions independently with limited or ambiguous information
• Strong communication skills including the ability to present and defend design decisions to senior leadership vendors and cross-functional partners
• Logical strategic approach to problem-solving balanced with hands-on craft sensibility
• Ability to read and understand architectural/facilities floor plans
• Comfortable operating in a fast-paced environment managing multiple concurrent projects and adjusting quickly to abrupt shifts in strategic direction

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