Mission Operations Responsible Engineer/Scientist

Relativity Space•Long Beach, CA

About The Position

Relativity Space is building rockets to serve today’s needs and tomorrow’s breakthroughs, with their Terran R vehicle designed to deliver customer payloads to orbit. The Interplanetary Sciences Program aims to expand access to scientific exploration across our solar system by making planetary research faster, more affordable, and more capable. This role is for an operations responsible engineer to lead the planning, design, and execution of spacecraft operations for the Interplanetary Program's first mission. The position carries end-to-end ownership of spacecraft operations, from defining the operations architecture and collaborating with science and instrument teams to executing operations that maximize science data collection within spacecraft constraints. Automating spacecraft operations to increase capability and efficiency is a key goal. This is a senior, highly technical, high-ownership role on a lean team in a fast-moving commercial environment, seeking someone energized by building an operations system for a complex, multi-instrument science mission millions of kilometers away and finding satisfaction in maximizing returned science.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in planetary science, aerospace engineering, electrical engineering, computer science, or a related technical discipline.
5+ years of experience in planetary missions, with demonstrated progression into increasing ownership.
Experience with scripting (e.g., Python) for data analysis or operational tasks.
Proficiency working in Linux/Unix environments.
Ability to reason through cross-subsystem interactions and their operational implications.
Ability to make decisions with incomplete information and under time pressure.
Excellent communication skills across technical disciplines: engineering, science, software.

Nice To Haves

Experience with deep-space mission operations, including surface or orbital science campaigns.
Experience designing onboard autonomy, automated scheduling systems, or ground-based automation frameworks for flight operations.

Responsibilities

Lead the planning, design, and execution of spacecraft operations for the Interplanetary Program's first mission.
Define the operations architecture.
Work directly with multiple science and instrument teams.
Execute operations to maximize science data collection within real-world spacecraft constraints.
Automate spacecraft operations to increase spacecraft capability and efficiency.
Reason through cross-subsystem interactions and their operational implications.
Make decisions with incomplete information and under time pressure.
Perform shift work and on-call availability during critical mission phases (launch, commissioning, cruise maneuvers, early operations).
Provide schedule flexibility as operational needs evolve.