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 Vehicle Software team develops the safety-critical software that runs on Terran R. The work spans a distributed, real-time control system operating under extreme conditions like Mach 5 atmospheric flight, with a deployment pace that allows you to see your code run on rocket engines daily. The team is building new system architecture from the ground up and just as importantly, testing, releasing, and deploying it. You don’t need an aerospace background: what matters is experience with high-reliability software for complex systems. This is a rare opportunity to shape the foundation of Terran R’s software stack while directly influencing performance, reliability, and flight success.
About the Role:
The TRADE team is a critical enabler of launch success at Relativity. As Software Manager, you'll lead a high-impact team solving unique engineering challenges—building the processes and tools that allow us to move fast, test thoroughly, and launch with confidence. This is an opportunity to shape a team and practice that doesn't just borrow from industry best practices—it helps define them.
- Build a team from the ground up, pulling in industry standards, developer’s lessons learned, and new innovative ideas on how to make vehicle software better.
- Responsible for the testing, release, and deployment of all vehicle software including flight software, embedded software, and ground applications directly responsible for command and control of the rocket.
- Take ownership of, and continually improve, CI/CD pipelines for all vehicle software repos. Build commonality across pipelines to ensure consistent testing.
- Translate software requirements and test matrices into test procedures for HITL and HOOTL. Execute “run-for-records” on HITL and HOOTL, perform and present data reviews on test results. Scale and continuously automate testing efforts from single engine, to stage, to vehicle and launch.
About You:
- 5+ years of experience in software engineering, with 2+ years in technical leadership or management roles.
- Strong background in at least one of test automation, CI/CD, DevOps practices, or release engineering in a production software environment.
- Familiarity with systems integration, especially across complex software stacks involving embedded software, flight, or enterprise components.
Nice to haves but not required:
- Experience managing software deployed to hardware-in-the-loop (HITL) or real-time testbeds is a strong plus.
- Proven ability to lead teams through ambiguity, set strategic direction, and deliver scalable solutions.
- Exceptional communication skills and the ability to work across disciplines, from software to manufacturing.
- Passion for building high-performing teams and coaching engineers in technical and career growth.
- Experience in aerospace, robotics, automotive, or similarly complex embedded systems.
- Knowledge of tools and frameworks like Anaconda, Gitlab, HITL/HIL orchestration, or other simulation and test environments.
- Experience in safety-critical software validation.
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.
Top Skills
Relativity Space Long Beach, California, USA Office
We have two sites in Long Beach, CA's Space Beach: "The Wormhole," a 1M sq. ft. factory, once Boeing C-17's home. Nearby, "The Portal" supports Aeon R engine production for our Terran R launch vehicle.
Similar Jobs at Relativity Space
What you need to know about the Los Angeles Tech Scene
Key Facts About Los Angeles Tech
- Number of Tech Workers: 375,800; 5.5% of overall workforce (2024 CompTIA survey)
- Major Tech Employers: Snap, Netflix, SpaceX, Disney, Google
- Key Industries: Artificial intelligence, adtech, media, software, game development
- Funding Landscape: $11.6 billion in venture capital funding in 2024 (Pitchbook)
- Notable Investors: Strong Ventures, Fifth Wall, Upfront Ventures, Mucker Capital, Kittyhawk Ventures
- Research Centers and Universities: California Institute of Technology, UCLA, University of Southern California, UC Irvine, Pepperdine, California Institute for Immunology and Immunotherapy, Center for Quantum Science and Engineering
