Vehicle Structures Engineer I

Relativity Space•Long Beach, CA

5d•$90,000 - $124,500

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 and meet the growing demand for launch capacity. Joining Relativity means becoming part of a team where autonomy, ownership, and impact exist at every level. The Structures and Mechanisms team is responsible for the full design, build, and test lifecycle of Terran R’s integrated structures and flight mechanisms. Team members work on multiple parts, not just within a single subsystem, and are empowered to make decisions that directly impact flight hardware. The scope of work encompasses a full design cycle, including conceptualization, design, analysis, manufacturing and testing for primary and secondary structures related to Thrust Structure, Propellant Tanks, Interstage or Fairing. The role requires creative thinking and innovation to reduce mass, parts, processes, and tooling. Responsibilities include conceptualizing structural load paths, designing complex structures, reviewing load inputs and requirements, analyzing and sizing flight structures, developing and supporting hardware test campaigns, and supporting manufacturing process development. Success in this role requires self-motivation, adaptability, and the ability to lead projects to completion in a fast-paced environment. Weekly tasks involve designing flight components using NX/TeamCenter, performing analysis with Nastran, ANSYS, and/or hand calculations, creating and releasing drawings, and supporting fabrication. The role demands full design ownership from requirements to production, along with strong organizational skills for documentation and presentation.

Requirements

0-2+ years of experience in a design engineering role.
Bachelor’s degree in a related discipline.
Experience with industry-standard CAD packages such as NX, Creo, or Solidworks
Working knowledge of structural analysis (hand calculation, Finite Elements Methods and industry tools) and test
Fundamental knowledge of structures strength, stability and fatigue failure mechanisms.
Fundamental knowledge of additive and traditional manufacturing processes
Full life cycle project ownership experience

Nice To Haves

Extensive experience with NX/TeamCenter.
Expertise using Nastran and ANSYS.
Experience with GD&T and drafting.

Responsibilities

Innovative conceptualization of structural load path, design for complex structures and adjacent system packaging.
Review of static & dynamic load inputs, material properties & test as well as structural systems & subsystems requirements.
Analysis and sizing of flight structures to ensure timely design reviews and drawing release.
Develop and support hardware test campaigns, including test integration, operation and result evaluation.
Support manufacturing process development.
Designing flight components for the Terran R vehicle using NX/TeamCenter.
Performing analysis using Nastran, ANSYS and/or hand calculations.
Creating and releasing drawings.
Supporting fabrication of components.
Owning design from requirements to production.
Documenting work and presenting recommendations.