Staff Aerodynamics Engineer
Relativity Space · Long Beach, United States · 1y 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:
Relativity’s Integrated Performance teams ensure that our products work across all systems and disciplines, from trajectory design to aerodynamics to reliability analysis and beyond. Our groups size the Terran R rocket, design its missions for customer success, reliability, and reusability, and ensure that every system on the rocket and ground is engineered correctly for the demanding environments of launch and entry. Recently, we completed the preliminary design and analysis of Terran R including Relativity’s first-ever work on launch vehicle reusability, spanning advanced trajectory simulations, wind tunnel testing, and structures analysis, among many other projects.
About the Role:
- Develop and execute CFD analyses to solve novel challenges in vehicle entry stability and control
- Validate CFD approaches and establish CFD best practices for ascent and entry phases of flight
- Scope and develop aerodynamics databases for ascent and entry including uncertainty quantification from CFD, wind tunnel, and empirical data sources
- Drive the design of major Terran R system elements – like fins, flaps, and primary structure – to meet criteria for control, stability, heating, and pressure
- Guide and mentor responsible hardware engineers to ensure hardware meets aerodynamics and system-level requirements
- Mature Relativity’s tools for developing and communicating aerodynamics data, including custom and commercial code, databases, and data processing tools
To be successful in this role, you should be self-motivated, adaptable, and able to contribute significantly to a fast-paced, integrated vehicle program. You should also be able to resolve ambiguity and drive projects to completion. Ideally, you have significant compressible flow, CFD, and high-performance computing (HPC) experience, as well as a proven track record for completing projects successfully in a highly collaborative environment.
On a weekly basis, you will be performing analysis, developing software tools, and supporting design teams. You will also use your strong organizational skills to properly manage the documentation and communication of your actions, recommendations, and decisions.
About You:
- Undergraduate degree in engineering or related field
- 8+ years relevant experience across multiple program lifecycles
- Expert-level proficiency in compressible flow on entry vehicles
- Experience leading architecture and strategy for CFD workflows across programs, including engine plume simulation
- Demonstrated track record solving complex cross-disciplinary design problems on integrated vehicles, driving technical decisions across subsystems
- Expert proficiency in Python and industry-standard CFD tools like FUN3D and Star-CCM+, including optimization of HPC cluster workflows
Nice to Haves, but Not Required:
- Graduate degree in engineering or related field
- 12+ years relevant experience across 3 or more program lifecycles
- Experience developing novel CFD methodologies or tools for aerospace applications
- Experience with AI/ML applications for aerodynamics (surrogate modeling, design optimization, automated mesh generation)
- Demonstrated experience establishing aerodynamics requirements and driving design trades at the system level
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.