Senior Additive Manufacturing Engineer, PBF
Relativity Space · Long Beach, United States · 2mo 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 Powder Bed Fusion Additive Manufacturing team is pushing the boundaries of what's possible in rocket propulsion hardware. Responsible for development, process, and production, the team oversees initial concept to final hardware with rigorous quality and precision. From developing print parameters on state-of-the-art 3D printers to enabling fast iteration for partner departments, the team plays a critical role in taking engine designs from concept to hot fire. The team was instrumental in producing Aeon 1 engines for Terran 1 launch and is now pioneering next-generation processes and designs for our Aeon R engines that will power Terran R. With flight hardware production scaling up rapidly, now is the time to join and make a direct impact!
About the Role:
- Serve as technical owner for complex PBF hardware families, process-control systems, qualification changes, or high-risk manufacturing issues
- Own build preparation, print programming strategy, manufacturing planning, and technical execution for assigned PBF hardware or product groups
- Provide feedback to design team on printability, DfAM improvements, part consolidation opportunities, and manufacturability trade-offs
- Define and improve PBF process specification architecture, change-control logic, verification requirements, acceptance criteria, and release documentation
- Develop and maintain controlled PBF process documentation, build standards, work instructions, verification plans, and engineering decision records
- Lead cross-functional technical investigations involving material failures, machine errors, inspection deviations, process escapes, hardware risk, and recurring nonconformances
- Translate design, materials, quality, and production requirements into robust build strategies, verification plans, and manufacturing execution paths
- Drive qualification and requalification strategy for changes to parameters, machines, powder, heat treatment, post-processing, inspection methods, or product-specific controls
- Make clear technical recommendations under uncertainty, including risk acceptance, containment, retest strategy, production recovery, and long-term corrective action
- Build scalable systems such as decision-ticket frameworks, dashboards, standards, readiness reviews, lessons-learned libraries, and ownership models
- Mentor Level I and Level II engineers, review their technical work, and raise the team's standard for crisp writing, evidence-based decisions, and partner-team alignment
- Represent PBF in program-level reviews, quality escalations, audit discussions, supplier/vendor technical conversations, and strategic planning
- Identify department-level improvement opportunities that increase throughput, reproducibility, audit readiness, and hardware quality without creating unnecessary bureaucracy
About You:
- Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science, Manufacturing Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or related field
- 4+ years industry experience in metal additive manufacturing (L-PBF); aerospace manufacturing environment preferred
- Deep understanding of laser powder bed fusion process controls, qualification logic, manufacturing risk, inspection feedback loops, and documentation requirements
- Experience owning additive manufacturing products through the AM lifecycle (work orders, non conformances, etc.); through machining and further post processing
- Experience in developing, analyzing, qualifying, and certifying AM parts for production; certifying for aerospace applications
- Expertise in post-processing techniques for improved part quality (heat treatment, HIP, machining, surface finishing)
- Experience with Additive Manufacturing tools such as EOSprint, Magics, 3dxpert, Flow, and CAD tools such as Siemens NX (preferred) or Solidworks
- Proven track record of leading ambiguous technical investigations and driving cross-functional decisions to closure
- Ability to influence without authority and drive alignment across engineering, operations, quality, and leadership
- Strong technical communication skills including specifications, decision records, corrective action summaries, executive-ready risk narratives, and the ability to present to technical and non-technical audiences
Nice to haves but not required:
- Experience with EOS production platforms (M400-4, M450-4, M4K), aerospace flight hardware, AS9100 environments, qualification campaigns, M&P release processes, or high-rate manufacturing ramp-ups
- Knowledge of non-destructive inspection/evaluation (NDI/NDE) methods (CT, X-ray, UT, dye penetrant)
- Familiarity with statistical process control (SPC), design of experiments (DOE), machine qualification, metallurgical analysis, CT/inspection data analysis, thermal processing, or supplier technical management
- Experience using Jira, MES/ERP systems, Power BI, Tableau, Python, Minitab, or other tools for workflow management and technical data analysis
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.