Manager, Build Reliability Engineering
Relativity Space · Long Beach, United States · 1mo ago
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 Reliability team at Relativity Space ensures quality is built into every stage of the Terran R design and production process, embedding reliability from the very beginning. The team works directly with design, manufacturing, test, and launch teams to stay close to the hardware, understand constraints, and proactively shape decisions. As the program moves from development into production and scaled operations, this is the time to establish the right processes, controls, and inspections without slowing progress. The team plays a key role in balancing risk, fostering a culture of ownership, and making sure speed never comes at the cost of reliability. Success means creating a quality system that scales with the Terran R program and Relativity as a whole.
About the Role:
- Manage and develop a team of Build Reliability Engineers, setting priorities, reviewing technical work, staying hands-on with hardware and process, and building the skills and career paths of direct reports
- Drive complex failure analysis using Fault Tree processes for critical manufacturing and field failures, ensuring corrective and preventive actions (CAPA) are validated and sustained to prevent recurrence
- Integrate Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) and predictive modeling into early-stage designs to identify and mitigate risks before production begins
- Partner with NPI (New Product Introduction), Supply Chain, and Operations leadership to resolve reliability issues and influence supplier quality outcomes
- Define and maintain reliability KPIs such as Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF), escapes to next operations, and first-pass yield, reporting progress and risk to cross-functional and executive stakeholder
- Lead risk escalation efforts using disciplined problem-solving methods (e.g., 8D), and build and scale the processes and staffing plan for the function as Terran R moves into higher rate production
About You:
- Bachelor's degree in Engineering (Mechanical, Aerospace, Industrial, or a related technical field)
- 8+ years of experience in Build Reliability, Manufacturing Engineering, or a related discipline, with 2+ years of direct people management experience, including hiring, coaching, and performance management in a high-reliability industry
- Hands-on manufacturing experience is required, with the ability to speak credibly to tooling, process, and build constraints
- Proven track record leading complex, cross-functional programs end-to-end, including defining scope, coordinating across teams, and driving execution without direct authority over all contributors
- Strong working knowledge of quality systems (AS9100/ISO 9001) and core quality tools (APQP, PPAP, FAIRs, PFMEA, Control Plans), with experience driving implementation and compliance
- Demonstrated ability to build processes and teams from the ground up and deploy them across diverse groups, with strong people leadership skills and the ability to earn trust with engineering and manufacturing partners
Nice to haves but not required:
- Master's degree in Engineering (Mechanical, Aerospace, Industrial, or a related technical field)
- Professional certification such as Six Sigma Black Belt, ASQ Certified Quality Engineer (CQE), or PMP
- Familiarity with high-volume inspection methods and data-driven acceptance criteria
- Experience with enterprise applications (PLM, ERP, MES) and proficiency in data analysis
- Comfortable operating in high ambiguity, setting direction where precedent or data is incomplete
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.
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.
If you need a reasonable accommodation, please contact us at accommodations@relativityspace.com.
Please note: Relativity Space does not accept unsolicited resumes, candidate profiles, or referrals from recruitment agencies or search firms. Any unsolicited submission - via email, our website, social media, or directly to an employee - will be deemed the property of Relativity Space, and no fee will be owed absent a current, fully executed agreement with Talent Acquisition that specifically authorizes submissions for the applicable role.