At Relativity Space, we have two audacious goals: to build the next great commercial launch company with Terran R and to become America's leading force in additive manufacturing innovation. Both contribute to our long-term vision of creating humanity’s industrial base on Mars, paving the way for interplanetary life to expand the possibilities of the human experience. This journey begins right here on Earth – where we design, build, and fly rockets to deliver customer payloads to orbit. Terran R, our medium-to-heavy lift reusable rocket, fulfills the growing demand for launch capacity, thanks to our iterative approach that accelerates design, testing, and development while minimizing costs. While our groundbreaking research and development in 3D printing pushes the boundaries of large-scale additive manufacturing.
Your journey with us is more than just a job – it’s an opportunity to shape the future of aerospace technology, additive manufacturing, and the human experience alongside a community of passionate, creative individuals. Join us on this extraordinary journey, as we work together to transform our vision into reality.
About the Team:
Relativity’s Integrated Performance teams ensure that our products work across all systems and disciplines, from trajectory design to aerodynamics to reliability analysis and beyond. Our groups size the Terran R rocket, design its missions for customer success, reliability, and reusability, and ensure that every system on the rocket and ground is engineered correctly for the demanding environments of launch and entry. Recently, we completed the preliminary design and analysis of Terran R including Relativity’s first-ever work on launch vehicle reusability, spanning advanced trajectory simulations, wind tunnel testing, and structures analysis, among many other projects.
As a Design Criteria Engineer, you will be responsible for identifying ways to improve emerging and existing designs and ensure that hardware and concepts of operation meet or exceed requirements. In short, you’ll be the glue between our analysis, test, certification, and design teams, helping to connect the technical dots and solve problems across our vehicle programs. To be successful in this role, you must be able to synthesize productivity for the program from the myriads of abstract problems and constraints facing an in-development launch vehicle. This will require an element of leadership and interfacing between teams.
About the Role:
- Engage with vehicle design and partner teams (Integrated Performance, Test, Launch, Materials, NDE, Manufacturing, Supply Chain) to drive optimized designs while shepherding them through the design review process, verification testing, and part release
- Collaborate with responsible engineers throughout the entire design process, ensuring design criteria are properly considered in the development of hardware
- Own and lead Design Criteria Reviews with design teams and responsible engineers
- Provide guidance and approval of qualification and acceptance test campaigns in preparation for flight
- Build, modify, or eliminate engineering tools, process, and standards to support an efficient, product-focused culture for Terran R
About You:
- An undergraduate degree in engineering or related field and 5+ years relevant experience
- Experience performing cross-functional engineering and integration for systems subject to complex requirements
- Proven track record of contributing to project completion
- Experience in mechanical engineering design and analysis
Nice to haves, but not required:
- Deep understanding of verification and qualification of aerospace structures
- Knowledge of industry standards and their applicable requirements for structures, pressurize hardware, liquid rocket engines, etc. (NASA, Space Force, AIAA)
- Hands-on experience in the design, integration, test, and operation of space vehicles or large complex systems
- History of taking an aerospace product from concept to production
- Strong desire to learn new subjects to solve difficult and often ambiguous challenges
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.
Hiring Range:
$139,000—$177,000 USD
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.
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