At Relativity Space, we’re building rockets to serve today’s needs and tomorrow’s breakthroughs. Our Terran R vehicle will deliver customer payloads to orbit, meeting the growing demand for launch capacity. But that’s just the start. Achieving commercial success with Terran R will unlock new opportunities to advance science, exploration, and innovation, pioneering progress that reaches beyond the known.
Joining Relativity means becoming part of something where autonomy, ownership, and impact exist at every level. Here, you're not just executing tasks; you're solving problems that haven’t been solved before, helping develop a rocket, a factory, and a business from the ground up. Whether you’re in propulsion, manufacturing, software, avionics, or a corporate function, you’ll collaborate across teams, shape decisions, and see your work come to life in record time. Relativity is a place where creativity and technical rigor go hand in hand, and your voice will help define the stories we’re writing together. Now is a unique moment in time where it’s early enough to leave your mark on the product, the process, and the culture, but far enough along that Terran R is tangible and picking up momentum. The most meaningful work of your career is waiting. Join us.
About the Team:
The Structures and Mechanisms team is responsible for the full design, build, and test lifecycle of Terran R’s integrated structures and flight mechanisms. Whether you're working on highly iterative mechanisms that move or tight-margin structures that shouldn’t, you’ll get hands-on hardware ownership and see the rocket coming to life on the factory floor. Both teams fall under one department, sharing design principles, tools, and an integrated approach that provides a comprehensive view of Terran R. Team members work on multiple parts, not just within a single subsystem, and are empowered to make decisions that directly impact flight hardware. Beyond first flight, you’ll play a critical role in refining for manufacturability and speed.
About the Role:
To be successful in this role, you should be self-motivated, adaptable, and able to lead teams in a fast-paced environment. You will need strong interpersonal skills and the ability to communicate effectively with direct reports and leaders within and outside the organization. You will lead a team of responsible engineers developing the engine, stage separation, fairing separation, grid fin, and landing leg mechanisms. Ideally, you have significant mechanical or integrated design experience as well as a proven track record of organizing and completing collaborative projects effectively. Your advanced design, analysis, and manufacturing skills enable you to own the outcomes of key mechanism design trades and development our Terran R vehicle, as well as help you mentor other design engineers across the organization. Finally, you also have the ability to earn trust, maintain positive and professional relationships, and strengthen our culture of inclusion.
Your responsibilities will include, but not be limited to the following:
- Goal and priority setting for vehicle mechanisms on Terran R
- Driving trade studies, manufacturing optimizations, and performance for mechanisms
- Leading and developing the mechanisms team, including hiring for new roles and identifying growth areas to fill
- Coordinating partner team developments in structures (separation and entry/descent/landing mechanisms) and propulsion (engine mechanisms)
- Working with test and avionics to accelerate hardware iterative development
- Reviewing, releasing, and approving development and flight hardware drawings
- Identifying build/test/design optimizations and working them to resolution
About You:
- B.S. degree in engineering or related field
- 5+ years of experience in a full cycle design engineering role, including CAD, analysis, build and test
- Experience with kinematic synthesis, pneumatic/hydraulic actuation, mechatronics, instrumentation, structures strength, stability and fatigue failure modes
- Experience with manufacturing processes, project management, scheduling/planning, materials, and surface treatments
Nice to haves but not required:
- Experience in structures and fluid systems for launch vehicle design, fabrication, and assembly techniques
- Experience with design engineering tools such as NX, TeamCenter, ANSYS or FEMAP, as well as engineering scripting language such as Python or MATLAB
- Experience with ERP/MES Systems, product lifecycle management (PLM) and/or data management tools
- 1+ years of leading a team
At Relativity Space, we are committed to transparency and fairness in our compensation practices. Actual compensation will be determined based on experience, qualifications, and other job-related factors.
Compensation is only one part of our total rewards package. Relativity Space offers competitive salary and equity, a generous PTO and sick leave policy, parental leave, an annual learning and development stipend, and more! To see some of the benefits & perks we offer, please visit here.
We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.
If you need a reasonable accommodation, please contact us at [email protected].
Top Skills
Relativity Space Long Beach, California, USA Office
Relativity Space The Wormhole Office
Home to Terran R production, cutting-edge manufacturing, and advanced testing infrastructure, our headquarters in the Los Angeles metro area is shaping the future of aerospace. Designed for scalability, this facility is designed to support high-rate production and can adapt to customer demand.
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