Materials Characterization Specialist II, Chemistry and Powers

Relativity Space•Long Beach, CA

3d•$38 - $58•Onsite

About The Position

Relativity Space is building rockets to serve today’s needs and tomorrow’s breakthroughs. The Materials and NDE (Non-Destructive Evaluation) team plays a central role in enabling Terran R to fly, re-fly, and scale by developing, characterizing, and inspecting materials and processes across all parts of the vehicle. This role will own and operate the chemistry and powder characterization test areas, including inert gas fusion (IGF) for O/N/H, spark OES, XRF, and particle size and shape analysis. The specialist will be responsible for sample preparation through reported results, authoring and validating standard-referenced test methods and work instructions, and establishing calibration and verification schedules under AS9100 and ISO 17025. Key responsibilities include characterizing metal powder for additive manufacturing (particle size distribution, flow behavior, morphology), performing lot qualification and acceptance (oxygen pickup, virgin vs. reused comparison), managing the chemistry and powder request queue, and training Specialist I staff and interns. The role also involves advising engineers on test selection and interpretation, and cross-covering the thermal analysis test area.

Requirements

AS/BS in Chemistry, Analytical Chemistry, Materials Science, Metallurgy or related, or equivalent hands-on experience
2–5 years hands-on lab test operations or materials characterization
Analytical chemistry background — demonstrated depth in elemental or compositional analysis, on any technique
Evidence of having written or validated a test method, work instruction, or SOP against a consensus standard such as ASTM, and able to read a method and set up to it
Track record of owning a technique or an area rather than executing another person's instructions, having decided how the test was done and stood behind the result
Technical judgment to interpret data, troubleshoot method and equipment problems, and recognize a bad result, including rejecting a number that does not hold up under schedule pressure

Nice To Haves

IGF or combustion gas analysis for oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen — LECO, Bruker, Eltra or equivalent; and/or spark OES, especially calibration, type standardization or matrix-specific setup; experience commissioning a new analyzer from installation through validated first production use
Metal powder characterization, ideally for additive manufacturing, including powder handling and lot qualification; XRF; thermal analysis (DSC, TGA, dilatometry, laser flash); metallography and SEM sample preparation
Familiarity with ICP-OES and ICP-MS for trace and full-spectrum chemistry, combustion carbon and sulfur, wet chemistry and gravimetric methods, and organic or contamination analysis — enough to specify the request, set detection limits and acceptance criteria, and reconcile returned data against in-house results
Aerospace or defense lab experience
AS9100 or ISO 17025 familiarity, especially method validation

Responsibilities

Own and operate the chemistry and powder characterization test areas — inert gas fusion (IGF) for O/N/H, spark OES, XRF, and particle size and shape analysis — from sample preparation through reported result
Author and validate standard-referenced test methods and work instructions for those test areas, and establish the calibration, verification, and records schedules that hold them under AS9100 and ISO 17025
Characterize metal powder for additive manufacturing including particle size distribution, flow behavior and morphology, and perform lot qualification and acceptance covering oxygen pickup and virgin versus reused comparison
Own the chemistry and powder request queue, set and hold commit dates, and escalate when a method or instrument cannot meet a date
Cross-cover the thermal analysis test area with the specialist who leads it
Train Specialist I staff and interns on the chemistry and powder equipment
Advise engineers on test selection, test purpose, and what a given method can and cannot answer for a material