Manager, Stage Materials & Processes Engineering

Relativity Space•Long Beach, CA

About The Position

Relativity Space is building rockets to serve today’s needs and tomorrow’s breakthroughs. Their Terran R vehicle will deliver customer payloads to orbit, meeting the growing demand for launch capacity. 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. The Materials & NDE Engineering team is responsible for the development, characterization, and inspection of materials across the Terran R launch vehicle. We specialize in rapid implementation of material systems through robust internal testing capabilities and first principles driven qualification approaches. We have recently made our first primary structure, supported introduction of next generation powder additive alloys in the Aeon-R engine, and developed 100% in-cell NDE inspection capabilities for WAAM manufactured hardware.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in materials science or engineering, or related field
6+ years of relevant materials & process engineering experience
Proficiency in general materials and processes activities such as M&P qualification, failure analysis, experimental design, and allowables development
2+ years of demonstrated ability to lead with technical excellence, empathy and inclusivity in an applicable role
Accountable, collaborative, and biased towards action

Nice To Haves

Experience across the full launch vehicle product lifecycle
Experience with launch vehicle stage products (primary structures, mechanisms, fluid systems, avionics)
Experience with launch vehicle materials and processes (aluminum, nickel-based, stainless steel, friction stir welding, arc fusion welding, structural composites, etc.)
Experience with stage M&P engineering disciplines (fatigue and damage tolerance, corrosion, tribology, oxygen compatibility, etc.)

Responsibilities

Build, lead, and develop the Stage Materials and Processes Engineering team as the accountable M&P leader for development, design, manufacturing, and reuse of Terran R stage systems
Collaborate with key partner teams across the product lifecycle, including Vehicle Engineering, our Materials Lab, Weld Development, NDE, Manufacturing, Quality, and Supply Chain
Fight to keep Terran-R on track through manufacturing dispositions, appropriate risk mitigation, and root cause/corrective action
Set the bar for both leadership and technical excellence across the team
Support annual operating plan and organizational activities (budget, headcount, staffing)
Foster an empathetic, supportive, accountable, honest, and communicative team culture