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Salary: USD 90,000 - 136,000 / annual
Relativity Space is building rockets using advanced 3D printing technology to serve commercial and exploration missions. The Terran R vehicle will deliver customer payloads to orbit, and the company is at a unique inflection point—early enough to shape the product and culture, but far enough along that the rocket is tangible and gaining momentum.
The Structures and Mechanisms team owns the full design, build, and test lifecycle of Terran R's integrated structures and flight mechanisms. As a Vehicle Mechanisms Engineer I, you will guide the design of critical flight systems including stage separation, payload deployment, aero control features, and landing gear. You'll work on highly iterative mechanisms and tight-margin structures, gaining hands-on hardware ownership and seeing the rocket come to life on the factory floor.
Your responsibilities will span the complete design cycle: conceptualization, trade studies, design, analysis, manufacturing, and testing of components. Example projects include designing and testing the stage separation or fairing deployment system, innovating the landing gear or aero surfaces actuation, defining design criteria and subsystem requirements, reviewing static and dynamic load inputs and material properties, and conducting trade studies on mechanism design concepts for leadership review.
You will collaborate closely with partner groups including structures, avionics, fluids, vehicle design, test, loads, and additive/manufacturing teams. The role emphasizes leveraging Relativity's additive process and design freedom to create better products. You'll be challenged to integrate multiple subsystems within the printed primary structure and support development of the additive process. Success requires self-motivation, comfort with ambiguity, and the ability to lead projects to completion with extreme ownership while collaborating effectively across teams.
REQUIREMENTS:
- Undergraduate degree in engineering or related field
- 0–2+ years of experience in full-cycle design engineering (CAD, analysis, build, test)
- Fundamental knowledge of kinematic synthesis, pneumatic/hydraulic actuation, mechatronics, and instrumentation
- Fundamental knowledge of structures strength, stability, and fatigue failure modes
- Technical problem-solving, manufacturing processing, materials, surface treatments, and hands-on hardware build experience
- Strong communication and interpersonal skills to lead discussions on complex technical topics
NICE TO HAVES:
- Experience with launch vehicle mechanisms and multi-body dynamics analysis
- Experience in demanding fast-paced development environments
- Proficiency with design tools (NX, Teamcenter, Ansys, Femap) and engineering scripting (Python, MATLAB)
- Hands-on fabrication/prototyping experience (machining, 3D printing, welding, woodworking)
