Production Manager, Engine Manufacturing

Relativity Space • Long Beach, CA

7d

About The Position

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 Engine Manufacturing team is dedicated to delivering high-performance engines and advancing innovative manufacturing systems that continuously improve cost, quality, and lead time. You’re not just executing on designs; you actively provide input that shapes new hardware iterations and regularly interface with engineers to make critical decisions for the Aeon R program. Having successfully developed and refined processes for our initial development engines, the team is now focused on producing flight engines at rate for Terran R’s aggressive launch manifest. About the Role: As a Production Manager, you will own execution for your assigned production area, ensuring safe, high-quality, and on-time delivery of hardware. You will lead and develop a team of supervisors and technicians, optimize daily operations, and partner with cross-functional teams to continuously improve processes.

Requirements

• 7+ years of experience in aerospace, automotive, or other high-reliability production environments.
• 3+ years of experience managing production teams, including direct supervision of supervisors or leads.
• Strong understanding of manufacturing processes (assembly, integration, machining, or test) and ability to read and interpret engineering drawings and work instructions.
• Proven track record of delivering against aggressive production schedules while maintaining quality and safety standards.
• Excellent communication, problem-solving, and organizational skills; comfortable making decisions in a fast-paced environment.

Nice To Haves

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or related field.
• Experience scaling a production system from low-rate to high-rate builds.
• Lean manufacturing or Six Sigma Green Belt/Black Belt certification.
• Experience with ERP/MRP systems and manufacturing execution systems (MES).

Responsibilities

• Lead production operations for your area, driving adherence to schedule, quality, and cost goals.
• Manage, coach, and develop a team of production supervisors, technicians, and leads, building strong frontline leadership capability.
• Partner with manufacturing engineering, planning, supply chain, and quality to quickly resolve production issues and eliminate recurring problems.
• Ensure safe, compliant, and efficient operations, championing a culture of accountability and continuous improvement.
• Own daily production metrics, including throughput, first-pass yield, and labor efficiency, and implement corrective actions when off-target.
• Drive implementation of process improvements, Lean initiatives, and best practices to prepare the area for future rate increases.

Benefits

• 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.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Number of Employees: 1,001-5,000 employees