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Salary: USD 133,000 - 199,000 / annual
Relativity Space is building the Terran R rocket to deliver customer payloads to orbit. This Staff Quality Engineer role is based at Cape Canaveral, Florida, where the company's Test and Launch operations converge—the only place where all major aspects of the vehicle come together, from stages and payloads to ground systems, launch, landing, and refurbishment.
You will provide technical leadership and strategic direction for quality engineering across Test and Launch operations. Key responsibilities include:
• Establish project goals, priorities, risk-based approaches, and completion criteria for complex, high-impact quality initiatives.
• Own and drive improvements to in-process build verification, issue ticket workflows, as-built verification, and non-conformance management to scale with program needs.
• Develop, implement, and continuously improve quality processes by reviewing work instructions, establishing corrective action strategies, and creating standardized rework and repair documentation.
• Serve as a technical quality leader and key partner to the AS9100 Quality Management System team, helping develop and maintain policies, procedures, and quality standards relevant to Test and Launch.
• Lead cross-functional resolution of complex and systemic quality issues by partnering with Test and Launch, Manufacturing, Hardware Responsible Engineering, and other technical organizations.
• Analyze quality data, product and process performance, and recurring non-conformances to identify systemic trends, determine root causes, and develop corrective and preventive actions.
• Establish and communicate quality strategies, technical recommendations, risks, and program-level impacts to technical leaders and management.
• Identify opportunities to improve quality engineering practices across the organization and drive adoption of scalable processes, tools, and standards.
• Mentor and provide technical guidance to quality engineers and cross-functional partners, helping develop engineering capability and raising the overall quality bar.
• Act as a subject matter expert for quality engineering and serve as a trusted technical resource for complex quality, process, and product issues.
This role operates at the intersection of every major aspect of Terran R, offering exposure and responsibility unmatched elsewhere in the program. You will work in a fast-paced, dynamic environment where priorities may shift and decisions must be made with incomplete information. Occasional night shifts, weekend work, and travel are required to support Test and Launch operations.
REQUIREMENTS:
• Bachelor's degree in Engineering or a related STEM field.
• 10+ years of experience in quality engineering, quality management, manufacturing quality, or a related engineering discipline.
• Demonstrated ability to apply engineering principles and quality methodologies to analyze complex technical issues, evaluate product and process risks, and develop effective corrective and preventive actions.
• Demonstrated experience leading complex, cross-functional projects from problem definition through implementation and sustained results, including establishing priorities, managing technical risk, and driving execution across multiple teams.
• Proven ability to influence technical and operational decisions without direct authority and build alignment across engineering, manufacturing, test, launch, and quality organizations.
• Strong understanding of quality systems, manufacturing processes, and product lifecycle considerations, with the ability to identify systemic issues and develop scalable solutions.
• Ability to communicate complex technical findings, quality risks, recommendations, and program-level impacts effectively to engineers, technical leaders, and management.
• Demonstrated experience mentoring engineers, influencing best practices, and raising the technical and operational quality standards of a team or organization.
• Ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced, highly dynamic environment where priorities may shift and decisions must be made with incomplete information.
• Ability to support occasional night shifts and weekend work and to travel as required by Test and Launch operations.
• Must clear a background check administered by the US government to obtain clearance for on-site work at Cape Canaveral.
NICE TO HAVES:
• Experience serving as a technical quality lead, subject matter expert, or quality engineering leader within a fast-paced aerospace, manufacturing, launch, or complex assembly environment.
• Advanced knowledge of quality management standards such as AS9100, ISO 9001, NASA quality standards, or comparable regulated quality systems.
• Experience developing or deploying quality strategies, processes, and standards across multiple teams, programs, or manufacturing environments.
• Experience applying quality and product development methods such as FMEA, APQP, SPC, PPV, DFM, or similar methodologies.
• Experience leading root cause investigations and corrective/preventive action efforts for complex or systemic product and process issues.
• Experience establishing quality metrics, dashboards, or performance indicators and using data to drive program-level decisions and continuous improvement.
• Experience using PLM, MES, ERP, or QMS systems to support quality workflows, analyze data, document issues, and make risk-based decisions.
• Experience mentoring or providing technical leadership to engineers and cross-functional teams.
• Experience developing or improving inspection, verification, acceptance, or non-conformance processes for complex hardware.
