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Relativity Space is developing the Terran R rocket vehicle to deliver payloads to orbit. The Propulsion Integrated Design team is seeking a Senior Propulsion Engineer to own the design, development, analysis, and qualification of thermal protection systems (TPS) and heatshield components for the Aeon-R engines.
In this role, you will be the Responsible Engineer for heatshield hardware that protects engines and first stages through launch, entry, descent, and landing. You will design, analyze, develop, and test heatshield hardware across multiple engine and flight configurations. Your responsibilities include leveraging development testing and flight data to iterate on designs, analyzing post-flight conditions to assess reusability and identify improvements, and partnering with peer engineers across Propulsion and Vehicle organizations to optimize mechanical interfaces.
You will collaborate closely with manufacturing and supply chain teams to transition designs from development to production, ensuring manufacturability and scalability. The role emphasizes ownership and accountability—you will manage the entire lifecycle of your components from initial design through production qualification and flight operations.
The Propulsion team fosters a culture of bottoms-up decision-making and technical autonomy. As Terran R enters qualification, the team is exploring engine modifications including thrust upgrades, new cycles, and design for mass production. This is an opportunity to work on critical hardware that directly enables rocket reusability and mission success, with visibility into real flight data and rapid iteration cycles.
