Staff Software Engineer, AI Tooling

Vast is looking for a Staff Software Engineer, AI Tooling reporting to the Senior Manager, Software Engineering to support the development of the 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.

• Define the technical direction and long-term roadmap for Vast's internal AI platforms and tooling

• Architect and lead the development of full-stack AI applications that serve diverse use-cases across the company

• Establish engineering best practices, design patterns, and quality standards for AI systems development

• Build and maintain production-grade integrations connecting AI models with internal tools, data sources, and workflows

• Design and implement pipelines for AI response enforcement, content safety, and output formatting

• Drive the evaluation and adoption of emerging AI frameworks, models, and patterns to continuously improve internal tooling

• Collaborate cross-functionally with IT Infrastructure, security, and business stakeholders to integrate AI tooling with existing systems

• Mentor and guide other engineers contributing to AI initiatives, fostering a culture of technical excellence

• Ensure the reliability, observability, and scalability of production AI systems

• Rapidly iterate on AI tooling as the technology landscape and company needs evolve

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, math, an engineering discipline, or equivalent work experience

• 8+ years of software development or relevant industry experience

• Proven track record of leading technical initiatives from concept through production deployment

• Strong full-stack development proficiency with experience across both frontend and backend systems

• Deep understanding of AI/ML concepts, large language model architectures, prompt engineering, and modern AI tooling patterns

• Demonstrated experience implementing and maintaining production applications at scale

• Experience establishing engineering best practices and providing technical mentorship

• Strong cross-functional communication skills with the ability to translate technical concepts for diverse audiences

• Experience with Python and TypeScript in production environments

• Experience with OpenWebUI or similar open-source AI interface platforms

• Experience building or integrating MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers and gateways

• Experience with LLM API integration and AI pipeline development

• Experience with containerization and deployment (Docker, Kubernetes)

• Familiarity with RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) patterns and vector databases

• Prior experience as a tech lead or in a similar engineering leadership role

• Experience working in fast-paced, ambiguous environments with evolving requirements

• Willingness to work evenings and/or weekends to support critical mission milestones