Senior Vehicle Structures Design Engineer

Relativity Space•Long Beach, CA

About The Position

The Senior Vehicle Structures Design Engineer will design parts and systems for primary and secondary structures across all stages of Relativity Space’s Terran R rocket, from early concept through full release, and support manufacturing. The role involves optimizing part geometry and mass, ensuring assembly packaging, preventing interferences and excessive gaps, and designing parts for manufacturability. The engineer will manage parts and assemblies in PLM and support bill of materials (BOM) structuring and configuration management across vehicle systems. The engineer will work with large machined metallic components, sheet metal, composites, formed panels, and other hardware. They will coordinate design-for-manufacturing decisions with manufacturing engineering, assess system packaging, perform tolerance stack analyses, validate hardware stacks and fastener selections, and establish gapping and shimming strategies. They will also create and release drawings, including applying GD&T as a primary definition, and support fabrication of flight components. The role uses NX and TeamCenter and requires strong organization, documentation, communication of recommendations, adaptability, and ownership of projects in a fast-paced environment.

Requirements

At least 4 years of experience in a design engineering role.
Bachelor’s degree in engineering or a related discipline.
Experience with industry-standard CAD packages such as NX, CATIA, Creo, or SOLIDWORKS.
Fundamental knowledge of structures strength, stability, and fatigue failure mechanisms.
Ability to work in the context of large assemblies and effectively navigate large vehicle BOMs.
Self-motivated and adaptable, with the ability to lead projects to completion in a fast-paced environment.
Significant mechanical or structural design experience and a track record of completing collaborative projects effectively.

Nice To Haves

At least 2 years of experience with NX/Teamcenter PLM.
At least 3 years of experience with GD&T and drafting.

Responsibilities

Design and develop piece parts, assemblies, and systems from early conceptualization through full initial release.
Design structural hardware using large machined metallic components, sheet metal, composites, formed panels, and other materials or processes.
Coordinate design-for-manufacturing decisions directly with the manufacturing engineering team.
Assess system packaging and resolve interferences.
Perform tolerance stack analyses and validate hardware stacks and fastener selections.
Integrate nominal gapping and shimming strategies.
Support BOM and configuration management for systems across multiple vehicles.
Create and release drawings as part of post-CDR system release sprints, incorporating GD&T as a primary definition.
Support fabrication of flight components.
Manage parts and assemblies throughout their lifecycles in PLM.
Document work and present recommendations when decisions are needed.