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Relativity Space is building Terran R, a 3D-printed orbital launch vehicle designed to deliver payloads to orbit. The Structures and Mechanisms team owns the full design, build, and test lifecycle of integrated structures and flight mechanisms for the rocket.
As Staff Mechanisms Engineer, you will guide the design of critical flight systems including stage separation, payload deployment, aerodynamic control features, and landing gear. This is a hands-on role with direct ownership of hardware that flies. You will work across the full design cycle: conceptualization, trade studies, detailed design, analysis, manufacturing, and testing.
Key responsibilities include:
- Lead mechanism design for stage separation, fairing deployment, landing gear, and aero surface actuation systems
- Define design criteria and subsystem requirements in collaboration with structures, avionics, and fluids teams
- Conduct trade studies on competing design concepts and present recommendations to leadership
- Review static and dynamic load inputs, material properties, and manufacturing process constraints
- Leverage Relativity's additive manufacturing process to unlock novel design freedom
- Integrate subsystems within the printed primary structure
- Support development of additive manufacturing processes to enable integrated designs
- Deliver on schedule and budget while maintaining flight safety and performance margins
You will collaborate closely with vehicle design, test, loads, and manufacturing teams. This role offers significant autonomy and impact—your decisions directly influence flight hardware and the company's path to commercial launch operations. The team works on multiple subsystems across the vehicle, not isolated components, providing broad technical scope and visibility into how mechanisms integrate into the complete rocket system.
