Vehicle Structures Engineer I

At Relativity Space, we are building rockets to serve today's needs and tomorrow's breakthroughs. The Terran R vehicle will deliver customer payloads to orbit, meeting growing demand for launch capacity. Commercial success with Terran R will open new opportunities to advance science, exploration, and innovation.

Joining Relativity means taking ownership and creating impact at every level. You will solve problems that have not been solved before and help develop a rocket, a factory, and a business from the ground up. Whether you work in propulsion, manufacturing, software, avionics, or a corporate function, you will collaborate across teams, shape decisions, and see your work come to life quickly. Creativity and technical rigor go hand in hand here.

About the Team

The Structures and Mechanisms team handles the full design, build, and test lifecycle of Terran R's integrated structures and flight mechanisms. Whether you work on iterative mechanisms that move or tight-margin structures that must not, you will have hands-on hardware ownership and see the rocket take shape on the factory floor. Both teams sit under one department, share design principles and tools, and take an integrated approach to viewing Terran R. Team members work across multiple parts and subsystems and make decisions that directly affect flight hardware. Beyond first flight, you will play a key role in improving manufacturability and speed.

About the Role

The work covers the full design cycle: conceptualization, design, analysis, manufacturing, and testing of primary and secondary structures such as the thrust structure, propellant tanks, interstage, and fairing. You will think creatively and use innovation to reduce mass, parts, processes, and tooling.

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Conceptualizing structural load paths, designing complex structures, and packaging adjacent systems.
• Reviewing static and dynamic load inputs, material properties, test data, and structural system and subsystem requirements.
• Analyzing and sizing flight structures to keep design reviews and drawing releases on schedule.
• Developing and supporting hardware test campaigns, including test integration, operation, and result evaluation.
• Supporting manufacturing process development.

You will be self-motivated and adaptable, leading your own projects to completion in a fast-paced environment. Significant mechanical or structural design experience and a track record of effective collaboration are ideal.

Each week you will design flight components for the upcoming Terran R vehicle in NX/TeamCenter, run analysis in Nastran, ANSYS, and/or hand calculations, create and release drawings, and support fabrication of your parts. You will own your design from requirements through production, document your work clearly, and present recommendations when decisions are needed.

About You

• 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 calculations, finite element methods, and industry tools) and testing.
• Fundamental knowledge of structural strength, stability, and fatigue failure mechanisms.
• Fundamental knowledge of additive and traditional manufacturing processes.
• Experience owning projects through the full life cycle.
• Hiring timeline: the company is actively hiring for immediate openings. Candidates should have completed their degree requirements and be available to start full-time employment within 30-60 days of applying. If availability falls outside this window, you are encouraged to apply once you are within 30-60 days of being able to start.

Nice to Have (Not Required)

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