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Relativity Space is building the Terran R rocket to deliver payloads to orbit and advance commercial spaceflight. The company is developing both the vehicle and the manufacturing processes to make rockets at scale.
The Integrated Performance teams at Relativity ensure all systems work together across disciplines—from trajectory design and aerodynamics to reliability analysis. The group recently completed preliminary design and analysis of Terran R, including the company's first work on launch vehicle reusability, spanning advanced trajectory simulations, wind tunnel testing, and structures analysis.
As an Aerothermal Engineer II, you will own the thermal and aerodynamic challenges of the Terran R vehicle. Your responsibilities include:
- Develop and execute computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analyses to solve novel challenges in vehicle entry heating and supersonic retropropulsion
- Drive the design of major Terran R system elements—fins, flaps, heat shields, and primary structure—to meet temperature and heating criteria
- Guide and mentor responsible hardware engineers to ensure hardware meets aerothermal requirements
- Collaborate across propulsion, structures, avionics, and mission design teams to integrate aerothermal solutions into the overall vehicle architecture
- Conduct trade studies and analysis to optimize vehicle performance, manufacturability, and reusability
- Support test campaigns, including wind tunnel testing and flight data analysis
You will work in a fast-paced environment where autonomy, ownership, and impact exist at every level. Relativity is at a unique inflection point—early enough to shape the product and culture, but far enough along that Terran R is tangible and gaining momentum. This is an opportunity to solve problems that haven't been solved before and see your work come to life in record time.
