Talent Operations Specialist

About Vast

Vast is working toward a future where life in space is not just possible, but sustainable for large numbers of people. The company is building advanced space stations designed to support continuous human presence in space for the United States and its allies, while also enabling microgravity research, manufacturing, and a broader space economy for government, commercial, and private customers. With an incremental, hardware-focused, cost-conscious development approach, Vast is advancing its multi-module Haven Station. Following the 2025 success of Haven Demo, Vast became the only commercial space station company to successfully fly and operate its own spacecraft. The next milestone, Haven-1, is planned to be the first commercial space station in the world, with additional Haven modules expected to support a permanent human presence by 2030.

The team is deeply committed to delivering on this mission safely and on schedule. If you want to work alongside top talent contributing to human space exploration, this could be a strong fit.

Role Overview

Vast is hiring a Talent Operations Specialist to report to the Senior Manager, Talent Operations. In this position, you will help design and run the systems, processes, and data infrastructure that support hiring. This is more than a day-to-day recruiting support role; it is about building the operational foundation that allows the company to hire exceptional talent quickly, consistently, and at scale as it continues to grow.

The ideal candidate is a process-oriented problem solver with a strong sense of urgency, someone who can improve existing workflows while also helping launch new capabilities.

This is a full-time exempt role based onsite in Long Beach, California.

Key Responsibilities

• Manage and improve the daily administration of the applicant tracking system and wider recruiting technology stack, including workflows and user permissions.
• Create, document, and continuously improve scalable recruiting processes, SOPs, and frameworks that support speed, consistency, and a strong candidate experience.
• Develop and maintain recruiting dashboards and reporting tools.
• Protect the quality of recruiting data by ensuring accuracy and consistency across systems.
• Support the rollout of new tools and processes through documentation, training, and change management.
• Partner with recruiters, hiring managers, and the people team to raise standards, share best practices, and drive ongoing improvement across recruiting operations.

Minimum Qualifications

• 3 to 4 years of experience in recruiting operations, talent acquisition operations, HR operations, or a similar operational role.
• Practical experience administering and configuring an applicant tracking system, including workflow setup and reporting.
• Proven ability to analyze recruiting data or other operational data.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience building recruiting processes or systems from the ground up, or significantly redesigning them, rather than only maintaining what already exists.
• Exposure to workflow automation, system integrations, or recruiting technology implementations.
• Background working in a fast-scaling environment.
• Strong sense of ownership with an emphasis on results, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Comfort working through ambiguity and creating structure without a fully defined playbook.

Compensation and Benefits

The California pay range for this position is USD 69,000 to USD 98,000 annually. Base pay will depend on relevant knowledge, education, skills, experience, business needs, and market conditions. Salary is only one part of the overall compensation package.

Full-time employees receive company equity and access to a comprehensive benefits package that includes medical, dental, and vision coverage for employees and dependents; generous paid time off; more than 20 days of vacation for exempt staff and up to 10 days for non-exempt staff, with the option to cash out unused vacation annually; paid parental leave; short- and long-term disability insurance; life insurance; a 401(k) retirement plan; ClassPass credits; personalized mental healthcare through Spring Health; and additional discounts and perks.

Vast also offers notable food benefits, including complimentary snacks, drip coffee and an onsite barista, cold beverages, free dinner meals, and subsidized lunch.

U.S. Export Control Compliance

The selected candidate will have access to information and items subject to U.S. export control requirements and must therefore be a U.S. person under 22 C.F.R. 120.62, or otherwise qualify for deemed export licensing. This includes U.S. citizens, U.S. nationals, lawful permanent residents, and asylees or refugees with the status already granted, not pending.

Equal Opportunity

Vast is an equal opportunity employer. Hiring decisions are based on merit, competence, and qualifications, and are not influenced by race, color, religion, gender, national origin or ethnicity, veteran status, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, physical or mental disability, or any other legally protected status.