Lead, Propulsion Engineering

At Relativity Space, we're building rockets to serve today's needs and tomorrow's breakthroughs. Our Terran R vehicle will deliver customer payloads to orbit, meeting the growing demand for launch capacity. But that's just the start. Achieving commercial success with Terran R will unlock new opportunities to advance science, exploration, and innovation, pioneering progress that reaches beyond the known.

Joining Relativity means becoming part of something where autonomy, ownership, and impact exist at every level. Here, you're not just executing tasks; you're solving problems that haven't been solved before, helping develop a rocket, a factory, and a business from the ground up. Whether you're in propulsion, manufacturing, software, avionics, or a corporate function, you'll collaborate across teams, shape decisions, and see your work come to life in record time. Relativity is a place where creativity and
technical rigor go hand in hand, and your voice will help define the stories we're writing together. Now is a unique moment in time where it's early enough to leave your mark on the product, the process, and the culture, but far enough along that Terran R is tangible and picking up momentum. The most meaningful work of your career is waiting. Join us.

About the Team:

The Propulsion team at Relativity is focused on developing and delivering highly performant and manufacturable engines for Terran R. Engineers are responsible for the entire lifecycle of their parts, from initial design through production to qualification and flight. The team fosters a culture of bottoms-up decision-making, free from technical gatekeeping, where ownership and accountability are key at all levels. But designing engines with a quarter million pounds of thrust is just the beginning. As the flight configuration enters qualification, the team is now exploring modifications for future engines, including thrust upgrades, new cycles, and design for mass production

About the Role:

This role is on the Component Test Team, within the Engine Systems & Test team. Our broader team is responsible for developing the Aeon engine series at the system level. Our work spans thermofluids simulation & software tools; system-level architecture, requirements, and interfaces; component & integrated system hotfire testing; and more. The Component Test Team is primarily responsible for testing of combustion devices. We collaborate closely with propulsion design engineers, our manufacturing team, our Stennis test team, and our Cape launch team to deliver engines that will successfully propel the Terran rocket to orbit. We strive for continuous improvement and support the development of our technical hardware and human teammates alike.

This role may span several areas of our team depending on your skillset and the team's needs at the time.

• In the test part of your role, you will serve as a Responsible Engineer for propulsion test articles. These will primarily be combustion devices but may also include valves, heat exchangers, or other components.
• • You will develop test plans in collaboration with product owners, and you will execute test campaigns with our Stennis team, troubleshooting technical puzzles along the way.
  • You will own the exploratory operation of new and existing test article designs, diving deep into the evaluation of test hardware behavior in support of continuous engine development and certification.
  • This role is extremely varied day-to-day and, in addition to overall campaign ownership, can include writing test sequences, reviewing data, hands-on work with test articles, writing code, sitting console for hotfire tests, designing tooling, and more.
• Most test roles also involve systems work - on this side of your role, you may support engine subsystem troubleshooting, partner team product investigations, engine or component analysis and simulation, trade studies, and more.
• As our vehicle development program progresses, you may have the opportunity to be involved in stage test and flight campaigns.
• You will take ownership of projects of your creation to increase our collective efficiency.

You will also lead a small team of engineers with similar responsibilities as the above. This will require mentorship, project management, establishing priorities, communicating with leadership, providing technical guidance, and recruiting. Leaders at Relativity are expected to be both people leaders & highly technical - you will balance your time between effectively supporting your team's growth and success at Relativity and making direct technical contributions of your own. You will serve as a mentor to guide the team and will also learn from peers & mentors of your own within propulsion & the broader company. And in addition to learning from each other, we all learn from the engine - Aeon R is a novel engine that's never been built before, and with every test it gives us new mysteries to solve and challenges to grow from.

In order to be successful in this role, you should be capable of leading collaborative projects to completion with minimal oversight. You should also be a self-starter who is always looking for ways to improve yourself & learn more about the systems that interface with yours. Along with these high expectations comes the opportunity to have a significant influence on a fast-growing startup company and to make rapid professional gains in an environment that encourages growth and risk.

Work schedule & travel:

• This role is full-time onsite in Long Beach, CA, and requires an average of 25% travel to our test & launch sites.
• This role may occasionally require weekend work or travel for critical milestones.

About You:

We believe varied perspectives & backgrounds strengthen our team. Prior experience in aerospace is not required.

• Bachelor's degree in a science, engineering, or technology field
• 4+ years relevant experience in a complex engineering system development and/or test environment
• Experience with:
  • Applying engineering fundamentals in fluid mechanics & thermodynamics
  • Problem-solving
  • Working in a collaborative environment
• Exposure to test operations environments
• Experience designing, analyzing, testing, or developing at least one of the following: combustion devices, valves, heat exchangers, or instrumentation
• Leadership potential, which could be demonstrated e.g., through mentoring, managing complex interdisciplinary projects, supporting continuous improvement of the people around you, or participating in growing your team through hiring

At Relativity Space, we are committed to transparency and fairness in our compensation practices. Actual compensation will be determined based on experience, qualifications, and other job-related factors.

Compensation is only one part of our total rewards package. Relativity Space offers competitive salary and equity, a generous PTO and sick leave policy, parental leave, an annual learning and development stipend, and more! To see some of the benefits & perks we offer, please visit here.

Hiring Range:

$146,000-$187,000 USD

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.