Senior Supplier Reliability Engineer
Vast · Long Beach, CA
- Level
- Senior
- Team
- Reliability
- Travel
- 50%
- Degree
- Required
- Experience asked
- 5+ years
- Industry
- Aerospace & defense
- Posted
- 2 days ago
The role in 30 seconds
A senior reliability role at Vast (aerospace & defense) in Long Beach, CA. In this role, you will be crucial in ensuring the consistent quality and reliability of the products and components we receive from our suppliers.
- They ask for
- 5+ years · degree required
- Tools it names
- Six Sigma, Root cause, PPAP, APQP, MSA / Gage R&R, DOE
- Day to day
- about 50% travel
Read from the posting. The full description is below.
How this role compares
Against 89 other live reliability postings in California.
- Base pay
- Not listed in this posting
- Experience asked
- Typical (5+ years)
Typical $111k–$158k, from 51 postings that list pay.
Similar roles usually ask 5+ years.
Skills these teams ask for most
- ✓ Root cause 79%
- FMEA 50%
- ✓ New product launch 49%
- Automation 39%
- ✓ DOE 29%
- SPC 24%
✓ = this posting asks for it too. % = share of similar postings that mention it.
Stands out: this posting asks for PPAP, MSA / Gage R&R, which few similar roles mention. If you have it, lead with it.
At a glance
Pulled from the posting text. If it's not listed here, the posting didn't say.
How to get in at this plant
Five moves over a week or two. The first one takes ten minutes.
- 1
Pick 2–3 people on the Reliability team at Vast
Engineers who joined in the last year or two reply the most. Use the team search on this page to find them.
- 2
Send a short, curious note
One real question about their work. No favors yet. Each person gets a different note, written for this role.
- 3
Turn a reply into a short call
Questions worth asking about this team:
- What does a normal week look like on your team?
- The posting says about 50% travel. Between which sites?
- How did you land the job? What stood out in your interviews?
- 4
Apply with someone vouching for you
If the call went well, ask whether they’d pass your résumé to the hiring manager. Send your résumé link, apply that day, and let them know.
- 5
Bring proof to the interview
One page of before-and-after numbers from projects you led: scrap, OEE, cycle time, cost. Plant managers hire on results.
This plant: Vast in Long Beach
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Full description from VastAs posted on their careers site.ShowHide
Responsibilities
- ◆Evaluate and onboard new suppliers. Run regular audits, assessments, and evaluations to confirm they meet Vast's quality standards
- ◆Build and maintain strong supplier relationships. Address quality issues, identify supply chain risks, and implement improvements
- ◆Work with design and manufacturing engineers to understand the design intent of piece parts, assemblies, and subsystems
- ◆Run design-for-manufacturability reviews early, ideally before sourcing
- ◆Work with procurement to source parts strategically by assessing supplier manufacturing processes, inspection practices, and quality systems
- ◆Drive continuous improvement with suppliers and internally. Analyze quality data, identify trends, and implement corrective and preventive actions that improve quality and reduce cost
- ◆Define supplier technical and quality
requirements
from customer and program
requirements
for NPI and production
- ✓Analyze supplier quality and delivery metrics to find trends and systemic performance gaps, and build supplier improvement plans
- ✓Lead root cause and corrective action for any escapes or nonconformances found in Vast manufacturing or the Vast supply chain
- ✓Show a strong sense of ownership, technical excellence, initiative, and attention to detail
Qualifications
- ✓Master's degree in Mechanical, Aerospace, Materials, Manufacturing, Industrial, or Electrical Engineering, or a related engineering discipline
- ✓5+ years in reliability, process, or quality engineering in a production environment, with hands-on RCCA on product or process issues
- ✓Working knowledge of manufacturing and special processes, failure mechanisms, and inspection or NDE methods
- ✓Experience reading and applying industry specifications and drawing
Preferred Skills & Experience
- ✓A proven record of taking RCCAs to verified closure and influencing suppliers to get results
- ✓Hands-on failure analysis experience
- ✓Working knowledge of quality systems (ISO 9000, AS9100, NADCAP) and supplier quality processes (PPAP, APQP, FAI)
- ✓Familiarity with aerospace specifications for special processes, inspection, and process control
- ✓Experience applying statistical methods (MSA, DOE, hypothesis testing, Cpk) and structured problem solving (8D, fault tree, Ishikawa, Six Sigma)
- ✓Experience with additive manufacturing, welding, fracture mechanics, or damage tolerance
- ✓Experience with MES and PLM systems, plus Google Suite, SQL, and Python
- ✓Comfort working in a fast-paced environment and across many functions
- ✓Strong written and verbal communication, with the ability to explain technical findings to all levels of Vast and the supply base
Additional
Requirements
- ✓Willingness to work evenings and/or weekends to support critical mission milestones
- ✓Ability to lift up to 25 lbs unassisted
- ✓Ability to travel up to 50% of the time
Pay Range: California
$123,000 — $230,000 USD
Show full description ↓Show less ↑
Vast is developing next-generation space stations and space infrastructure using an incremental, hardware-rich, and low-cost approach. Vast is rapidly developing its multi-module Haven Station to ensure a continuous human presence in space for America and its allies, enabling advanced microgravity research and manufacturing, and unlocking a new space economy for government, corporate, and private customers. Haven Demo’s 2025 success made Vast the only operational commercial space station company to fly and operate its own spacecraft. Next, Haven-1 is expected to become the world’s first commercial space station when it launches in 2027, followed by additional Haven modules. Additionally, the company recently announced Vast Satellite , a high-power satellite product line leveraging its space station components and the heritage of Haven Demo.
Headquartered in Long Beach, California , and with more than 1,000 employees and over a billion dollars in private capital, Vast has built the facilities required to manufacture and operate America’s next space station. The company plans to develop future habitats and systems for the Moon and Mars, dedicated space stations for government partners, and other crewed systems that will unlock the expanding long-term space economy.
Vast is looking for a Senior/Staff Supplier Reliability Engineer , reporting to the Senior Manager of Supplier Reliability , to support the development of systems that will be required for the design and build of artificial-gravity human-rated space stations.
This will be a full-time , exempt position located in our Long Beach location. In this role, you will be crucial in ensuring the consistent quality and reliability of the products and components we receive from our suppliers.
U.s. export control compliance status
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