Senior Battery Systems Engineer

Relativity Space•Long Beach, CA

2d•$148,000 - $222,000

About The Position

Relativity Space is hiring a Senior Battery Systems Engineer to develop the high-voltage battery system for its Terran R launch vehicle. The engineer will learn the existing design and its history, then grow into technical ownership of the battery as a complete product spanning cells, mechanical and thermal design, electrical systems and battery management, and vehicle integration. The role connects the battery’s mechanical and electrical disciplines with the broader vehicle program and translates mission and vehicle needs into traceable requirements and system architecture. As the team grows, the position offers a path to technical leadership, including leading other engineers. The engineer will work across vehicle architecture, Flight Sciences, ConOps, criteria, avionics, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, structures, test, and vehicle integration. Responsibilities range from defining requirements and interfaces to establishing safety and verification strategies, coordinating suppliers, representing the battery at design and safety reviews, and managing technical program status. The position is hands-on and involves cross-functional technical influence throughout development and maturation of the battery design.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in engineering, such as mechanical, electrical, aerospace, chemical, or a related field.
At least 5 years of battery systems development experience across the product lifecycle, from concept through design and qualification, including high-voltage lithium-ion packs.
Demonstrated ability to derive and own requirements top-down using rigorous trade studies and traceable specifications, rather than only executing a fixed design.
Working depth across battery cells and systems, including cell selection and characterization, pack architecture, thermal management, BMS scope, and safety and abuse behavior.
Strong understanding of battery safety, failure modes, and high-voltage system fundamentals.
Proven cross-functional leadership and clear technical communication in fast-paced development environments.

Nice To Haves

Experience in aerospace, launch vehicles, automotive high-voltage systems, or another high-consequence, environment-driven domain.
Familiarity with environmental qualification, including vibration, shock, thermal-vacuum, and EMI/EMC testing, and test-as-you-fly verification.
Functional safety or hazard-analysis background, such as FMEA, FTA, ISO 26262, or aerospace equivalents.
Experience with requirements and modeling tools such as DOORS, Jama, or Cameo/MBSE.
Hands-on cell characterization and abuse or destructive testing experience.
Familiarity with charging or ground support equipment and ground operations.

Responsibilities

Partner with vehicle and power-system architecture teams to derive battery requirements from mission profiles, ConOps, and power-system needs.
Own and maintain the battery specification as the traceable source of truth for requirements, interfaces, and verification criteria.
Drive battery architecture and cell down-selection through documented trade studies in collaboration with battery mechanical, test, and BMS engineers.
Define and manage electrical, mechanical, thermal, and data interfaces between the battery and vehicle.
Work with Flight Sciences, ConOps, and the Criteria team to establish environmental and loads requirements, including vibration, shock, thermal conditions and cycling, EMI/EMC, altitude/vacuum, and mission duty cycles.
Partner with avionics and electrical engineering teams to define BMS requirements and scope, including cell monitoring, balancing, protection, contactor and heater control, state estimation, and fault management.
Coordinate battery packaging, mounting, thermal management, and installation interfaces with mechanical and vehicle-integration teams.
Work with criteria and structures teams to close structural, thermal, and safety margins.
Own battery safety architecture, including thermal-runaway detection and propagation mitigation, venting and burst-disc strategy, cell protection, and hazard analysis.
Define cell- and pack-level qualification and acceptance test programs, test-as-you-fly verification, and data systems for rapid design feedback.
Lead FMEA/FTA and reliability analysis, and identify and mitigate single points of failure.
Manage technical program schedule, risk, dependencies, and status; serve as the organized point of communication for battery status across teams.
Represent the battery at vehicle design reviews, safety review boards, and cross-functional forums.
Support supplier and cell-vendor engagement, benchmarking, RFI/RFQ evaluation, and technical down-selection.
Contribute to producibility, DFM, and NPI as the design matures, and lead structured root-cause and corrective-action efforts for anomalies.