Vehicle Systems Team- Senior Stage Development Engineer

At Relativity Space, we have two audacious goals: to build the next great commercial launch company with Terran R and to become America's leading force in additive manufacturing innovation. Both contribute to our long-term vision of creating humanity’s industrial base on Mars, paving the way for interplanetary life to expand the possibilities of the human experience. This journey begins right here on Earth – where we design, build, and fly rockets to deliver customer payloads to orbit. Terran R, our medium-to-heavy lift reusable rocket, fulfills the growing demand for launch capacity, thanks to our iterative approach that accelerates design, testing, and development while minimizing costs. While our groundbreaking research and development in 3D printing pushes the boundaries of large-scale additive manufacturing.

Your journey with us is more than just a job – it’s an opportunity to shape the future of aerospace technology, additive manufacturing, and the human experience alongside a community of passionate, creative individuals. Join us on this extraordinary journey, as we work together to transform our vision into reality.

About the Team:  

The Vehicle Systems and Integrated Test team at Relativity Space is a small, dynamic group within the Vehicle Engineering organization, specializing in cross-functional vehicle development, designing for operability, defining Concepts of Operations, and determining vehicle verification activities. Our team is responsible for the integration of stages and vehicles, acting as the engineering focal point throughout the vehicle's lifecycle. We consistently manage both upstream and downstream impacts, excelling at solving complex, first-time challenges. 

We tackle tough integrated problems, coordinate planning, set the engineering definition for operations, and strike the right balance between performance, launch/build rate, and reliability. This involves determining requirements, verification events, tools, guidance, and processes, all with operability at the forefront. On this team, you'll collaborate with every function across the company to help design, build, test, fly, recover, and reuse Terran R. 

About the Role: 

• Balance the technical, cost, and schedule constraints; weighing options, investigating scenarios, and proposing solutions
• Interact, coordinate, and influence all aspects of the vehicle design. This includes: Hardware, Software, Structures, Avionics, Propulsion, Integration, Test Operations, Manufacturing, Shipping
• Act as systems integration function by performing requirements decomposition, and developing vehicle, system, & unit level design verification activities
• Develop and maintain the system & stage level Interface Control Documents
• Balance the program risk posture through risk adjudication & mitigation planning activities
• Own the stage through qualification, acceptance, and hotfire test campaigns by writing test objectives, test matrices, and test plans
• Develop, manage, and execute operational plans and vehicle level CONOPs during test, hotfire, and launch campaign
• Ability to travel to our test & launch sites and may additionally require shifted schedules or weekend work for critical milestones

About You:  

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering or related field and 5+ years of relevant experience
• Experience leveraging technical aptitude and basic understanding of all functional disciplines (Mechanical, Fluids, and & Electrical engineering)
• Experience in design, manufacturing, assembly, and testing of complex aerospace systems
• Leadership or coordination experience in a multidisciplinary engineering project and demonstrated ability to lead by influence and collaborate with technical owners
• Experience leveraging strong problem-solving skills and a demonstrated ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment

Nice to haves but not required:  

• Graduate degree in engineering or related field and 10+ years of relevant experience
• Act with ownership, demonstrating a high level of responsibility over the resulting outcomes
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to distill complex technical problems into simple concepts for a broader audience

At Relativity Space, we are committed to transparency and fairness in our compensation practices. Actual compensation will be determined based on experience, qualifications, a