Vehicle Structures Engineer I (Heat Shield)

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 Structures and Mechanisms team is responsible for the full design, build, and test lifecycle of Terran R’s integrated structures and flight mechanisms. Whether you're working on highly iterative mechanisms that move or tight-margin structures that shouldn’t, you’ll get hands-on hardware ownership and see the rocket coming to life on the factory floor. Both teams fall under one department, sharing design principles, tools, and an integrated approach that provides a comprehensive view of Terran R. Team members work on multiple parts, not just within a single subsystem, and are empowered to make decisions that directly impact flight hardware. Beyond first flight, you’ll play a critical role in refining for manufacturability and speed.

The Base Heat Shield Structures team is responsible for the full design, build, and test lifecycle of Terran R’s base heat shield. Our team is responsible for all structure AFT of the engine gimbal plane with the core responsibility to isolate the engines from hazardous atmospheric environments from flight operations. Whether you're working on highly loaded structures under extreme thermal environments or isolating engines from one another you’ll get hands-on hardware ownership and see the rocket coming to life on the factory floor. Our team is organized under the greater Structures and Mechanisms department, sharing design principles, tools, and an integrated approach that provides a comprehensive view of Terran R. Team members work on multiple parts, not just within a single subsystem, and are empowered to make decisions that directly impact flight hardware. Beyond first flight, you’ll play a critical role in refining for manufacturability and speed.

About the Role:

To support our mission of changing the way rockets are built and flown, you will be responsible for bringing critical flight structures and supporting components from design concept to physical hardware ready to launch. The scope of work encompasses a full design cycle, including conceptualization, design, analysis, manufacturing and testing for primary and secondary structures associated with the Terran R Base Heat Shield. Here are some examples of projects you could be working on:

• OML Skins, Base Panels, High Temperature Seals, and internal supporting structures
• 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, including tools or fixtures design or analysis
• Your mission will be to deliver these projects on time and budget

In order to achieve this, you will be working closely with our Thermal Protection System (TPS), Design, Test and Loads & Dynamics teams. An ideal candidate would be self-motivated, thrives in ambiguity and is able to lead his or her own projects into completion. Ideally, you are someone who has come from a fast paced, aerospace environment, having completed difficult projects while collaborating effectively with other key groups. On a weekly basis, you will be designing flight or ground components using NX/TeamCenter, performing analysis using ANSA/META, ANSYS and/or hand calculations, creating and releasing drawings as well as supporting fabrication of your components. You will also use your strong organizational skills to properly document your work and move forward your recommendation when decisions are needed.

About You:

• 0-2 years of experience in a full cycle design engineering role iterating aerospace structures with a preference for aerodynamically driven assemblies with thermal gradients.
• Bachelor's degree in engineering or related technical discipline Demonstrated knowledge of structural analysis and test (from hand calculations to advanced analysis)
• Demonstrated knowledge of structures strength, stability and fatigue failure mechanisms Demonstrated knowledge of additive and traditional manufacturing processes
• Hiring Timeline: We are actively hiring for immediate openings. Candidates should have completed their degree requirements and be available to begin full-time employment within 30–60 days of applying. If your availability falls outside this window, we encourage you to return and apply when you are within 30–60 days of being available to start full-time employment.

Nice to haves but not required:

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

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

Compensation is only one part of our total rewards package. Relativity Space offers competitive salary and equity, a generous PTO and sick leave policy, parental leave, an annual learning and development stipend, and more! To see some of the benefits & perks we offer, please visit here.

Hiring Range:

$90,000—$136,000 USD

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.

If you need a reasonable accommodation, please contact us at accommodations@relativityspace.com.

Please note: Relativity Space does not accept unsolicited resumes, candidate profiles, or referrals from recruitment agencies or search firms. Any unsolicited submission - via email, our website, social media, or directly to an employee - will be deemed the property of Relativity Space, and no fee will be owed absent a current, fully executed agreement with Talent Acquisition that specifically authorizes submissions for the applicable role.