Propulsion Engineer I, Hardware Development

Relativity Space•Long Beach, CA

10h

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 Propulsion team at Relativity is focused on developing and delivering highly performant and manufacturable engines for Terran R. Engineers are responsible for the entire lifecycle of their parts, from initial design through production to qualification and flight. The team fosters a culture of bottoms-up decision-making, free from technical gatekeeping, where ownership and accountability are key at all levels. But designing engines with a quarter million pounds of thrust is just the beginning. As the flight configuration enters qualification, the team is now exploring modifications for future engines, including thrust upgrades, new cycles, and design for mass production. About the Role: Propulsion Hardware Development Engineers are responsible for taking the Aeon-R engine from paper designs to highly reliable, high-performance hardware. This role requires deep engagement with both the design and production teams to ensure our designs are readily manufacturable and our manufacturing processes are reliable and production-ready. You will also be responsible for developing new manufacturing processes to improve Aeon-R engines and the Terran-R vehicle. You should have strong engineering fundamentals as well as a knowledge of aerospace manufacturing techniques to be an effective Hardware Development Engineer. The role demands close interaction with propulsion hardware, including defining build procedures and hands-on build and integration of hardware.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in a science, engineering, technology, or mathematics field
Hands-on hardware experience with fluid and/or mechanical systems
Demonstrated drive to deliver on ambitious schedules, especially if unconventional & creative solutions are necessary to do so

Nice To Haves

1+ years of related experience

Responsibilities

Develop manufacturing processes, new techniques, and tools to enable high rate productions and increase engine performance
Work hand-in-hand with the design and analysis teams to simplify our propulsion systems
Participate in design reviews and lead design for manufacturing (DFM) initiatives
Design test set-ups, coordinate and execute development, qualification, and acceptance testing of systems, and conduct data reviews
Participate in test failure investigations and implement corrective actions
Design, analyze, and procure tooling for piece part manufacturing and system testing
Create and maintain development build and test schedules