Staff Mechanical Engineer (Mechanisms)
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 Structures and Mechanisms team is responsible for the full design, build, and test lifecycle of Terran R’s integrated structures and flight mechanisms. Whether you're working on highly iterative mechanisms that move or tight-margin structures that shouldn’t, you’ll get hands-on hardware ownership and see the rocket coming to life on the factory floor. Both teams fall under one department, sharing design principles, tools, and an integrated approach that provides a comprehensive view of Terran R. Team members work on multiple parts, not just within a single subsystem, and are empowered to make decisions that directly impact flight hardware. Beyond first flight, you’ll play a critical role in refining for manufacturability and speed.
About the Role:
To support our mission of changing the way rockets are built and flown, you will guide the design of Terran R mechanisms such as stage separation, payload deployment, aero control features and landing gear. To be successful, you will be working collaboratively with partner groups such as structures, avionics and fluids; and leverage our additive process and design freedom to design and build better products. The scope of work encompasses a full design cycle, including conceptualization, trade studies, design, analysis, manufacturing and testing of components.
Here are some examples of projects you could be working on:
- Design and test the Terran R stage separation or fairing deployment system
- Innovative conceptualization of the Terran R landing gear or aero surfaces actuation
- Definition of design criteria and subsystems requirements
- Review of static and dynamic load inputs, material properties & manufacturing process
- Conduct trade studies on different mechanism design concepts and present to leadership
Your mission will be to deliver on time and budget. You will be challenged to integrate as many subsystems within our printed primary structure, and support the development of our additive process to make this a reality. To achieve this, you will be working closely with our vehicle design, test and loads teams, as well as our additive and manufacturing teams.
In order to be successful in this role, you should be someone who is self-motivated, thrives in ambiguity, and is able to lead his or her own projects to completion. Ideally, you are someone who has come from a fast-paced environment, having completed difficult projects with extreme ownership while collaborating effectively with other key groups.
About You:
- Bachelor's degree in engineering or related technical discipline
- 8+ years of experience in a full cycle design engineering role, including CAD, analysis, build and test
- Fundamental knowledge of kinematic synthesis, pneumatic/hydraulic actuation, mechatronics and instrumentation
- Fundamental knowledge of structures strength, stability and fatigue failure modes
- Basic knowledge of manufacturing processes, materials, and surface treatments
- Proven track record of technical problem-solving and hands-on hardware build experience
- Communication and interpersonal skills to lead discussions on complex technical topics
Nice to haves but not required:
- 10+ years of aerospace experience or an advanced engineering degree
- Experience with launch vehicle mechanisms and multi-body dynamics analysis
- Experience in a demanding fast pace development environment
- Experience with design engineering tools such as NX, TeamCenter, Ansys or Femap, as well as engineering scripting language such as Python or MATLAB
- Hands-on experience with fabrication/prototyping such as machining, 3D printing, welding, woodworking
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.