Senior Mechanisms Systems Engineer
Relativity Space · Long Beach, United States · 23d 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 Mechanisms Team at Relativity Space designs and delivers the complex, high-performance mechanical systems that enable launch-vehicle flight, landing, and reusability. We own the full lifecycle of mission-critical hardware—actuators, latches, and thrust vector control (TVC) systems—while partnering deeply with Guidance, Navigation & Control (GNC), Avionics, and Software to create integrated, operable solutions. Our work spans concept development through design, analysis, test, flight operations, and recovery, always balancing performance, reliability, and build rate.
About the Role:
As a Senior Mechanisms Systems Engineer, you will be the technical and programmatic owner for large, cross-discipline mechanism systems such as thrust vector control. Reporting directly to the Mechanisms team, you will lead system-level design and integration, guiding requirements, architecture, and verification across hardware and software interfaces.
You will:
- Define system concepts of operations (CONOPS), requirements, and verification plans
- Lead integrated product activities across mechanical design, actuators, GNC, avionics, and software teams to ensure seamless system performance
- Drive development tests, functional verification, and flight readiness by authoring test plans, executing tests, and establishing success criteria
- Anticipate technical and logistical risks, develop mitigation strategies, and align priorities across engineering disciplines and schedules
- Coordinate the design, manufacturing, integration, and test schedules for complex mechanism systems
- Take hands-on ownership of emergent challenges—whether designing test fixtures, specifying sensors, writing test automation, or leading root-cause investigations
This role occasionally requires travel to test and launch sites and may involve shifted or weekend schedules to support critical milestones
About You:
- Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Aerospace, or related engineering field and 5+ years of relevant experience in design, manufacturing, assembly, or test of complex mechanical or electromechanical systems
- Proven ability to lead multi-disciplinary projects and deliver on ambitious schedules
- Strong technical judgment and the ability to communicate complex concepts across engineering and leadership audiences
- Demonstrated experience balancing requirements, cost, and schedule while driving system integration and verification
Nice to haves but not required:
- Background in actuator systems, flight mechanisms, or thrust vector control
- Experience with motor-control tuning and model-based design using MATLAB/Simulink
- Experience with integrated hardware/software testing and verification
- Familiarity with reusability and rapid-iteration development environments
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.