Senior Photo Editor (Fixed Term)

At Vast, our mission is to contribute to a future where billions of people are living and thriving in space. Vast is developing next-generation space stations 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. Using an incremental, hardware-rich and low-cost approach, Vast is rapidly developing its multi-module Haven Station. 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, followed by additional Haven modules to enable permanent human presence by 2030. Our team is all-in, committed to executing our mission safely and on time. If you want to work with the most talented people on Earth furthering space exploration for humanity, come join us.

Vast is seeking a Senior Photo Editor to join its Media Production team on a fixed-term basis, reporting to the Senior Manager, Media Production. The ideal candidate is a technically precise, visually confident retoucher who can move fast without cutting corners, and who understands color and light well enough to make judgment calls, not just execute a brief. This is a high-leverage engagement: the work this person does in a short window will directly determine how consistent and premium Vast's photography looks going forward.

This is a hands-on, IC role for someone who can walk into an existing body of work, understand the visual direction, and both execute against it and help define it more clearly. You'll work through a real backlog of unedited production photography, and in parallel help formalize the color, light, and retouching standards the team uses so decisions don't have to be re-made from scratch on every shoot.

This is an in-person role based in Long Beach, CA and runs as a 60 day fixed-term position, with potential to extend.

Responsibilities

• Clear the Backlog: Process existing unedited photography from past shoots to final, delivery-ready quality.
• Post-Production & Workflow: Manage file handling from ingest to delivery (filenaming, packaging, archiving) and build reusable presets to streamline operations.
• Define Visual Standards: Partner with the Media Production team to document and maintain consistent color, light, and retouching standards across all photography and photographers.
• Support Live Production (as needed): Oversee capture-to-delivery for active shoots, including providing on-set Digitech support.
• Photography (as needed): Execute product, hardware, portrait, or event photography as required, maintaining the same high quality standards.

Minimum Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional experience as a photo retoucher or photo editor across commercial, brand, or editorial work.
• Deep proficiency in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop, CaptureOne, with strong command of color grading, light balancing, and high-end retouching technique.
• Demonstrated ability to define or work within brand-level visual standards, not just execute a one-off brief.
• Strong eye for consistency across a large volume of images, evidenced through a portfolio showing range and a clear point of view.
• Able to work independently and move fast without sacrificing quality, this is a short engagement with real volume behind it.
• Local to LA/Long Beach and available to be onsite..

Preferred Skills & Experience

• Photography experience (product, hardware, portrait, or event) as a backup capability.
• Experience shooting or editing for aerospace, tech, or other technical/industrial brands.
• Experience building documented style guides or visual standards for a brand or production team.

Pay Range: California

$45—$64 USD

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

Base salary will vary depending on job-related knowledge, education, skills, experience, business needs, and market demand. Salary is just one component of our comprehensive compensation package. Full-time employees also receive company equity, as well as access to a full suite of compelling benefits and perks, including: medical, dental, and vision coverage for employees and dependents, generous paid time off; up to 20+ days of vacation for exempt staff and up to 10+ days of vacation for non-exempt staff with the ability to cash-out unused vacation annually, paid parental leave, short and long-term disability insurance, life insurance, access to a 401(k) retirement plan, ClassPass credits, personalized mental healthcare through Spring Health, and other discounts and perks. We also take pride in offering exceptional food perks, with snacks, drip coffee & onsite barista, cold drinks, and dinner meals remaining free of charge, and lunch subsidized as part of Vast’s ongoing commitment to providing high-quality meals for employees.

U.S. EXPORT CONTROL COMPLIANCE STATUS

The person hired will have access to information and items subject to U.S. export controls, and therefore, must either be a “U.S. person” as defined by 22 C.F.R. § 120.62 or otherwise eligible for deemed export licensing. This status includes U.S. citizens, U.S. nationals, lawful permanent residents (green card holders), and asylees and refugees with such status granted, not pending.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY

Vast is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Vast is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.