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 Stage Fluids and Components team is responsible for all fluid systems and components on the Terran R launch vehicle. This includes systems for the liquid oxygen and liquid natural gas propellants as well as the supporting helium and nitrogen gasses. We also design the individual valves that are used within these systems on the stages and engines. This requires us to integrate our designs with those of the structures, propulsion, avionics hardware teams. It also requires us to work closely with the GNC and performance teams to ensure that our systems can meet the requirements of launching and landing a reusable rocket. Finally, we also work closely with the manufacturing and test teams to ensure our hardware is adequately built and tested.
About the Role:
In this role, you will be responsible for the design and analysis of the fluid systems that ensure reliable and efficient operation of Terran R vehicles.
Specific responsibilities will include:
- Conducting trade studies to produce architectures and designs that satisfy system requirements
- Sizing at the system and component level
- Conducting fluid and thermal analyses including system performance prediction and characterization using a variety of analytical methods (1D steady-state, transient, fluid networks, etc.)
- Creating tools to enhance our team’s analysis capabilities and streamline workflow
- Participating in design and manufacturing reviews
- Owning and leading test campaigns to validate system design and performance
- Anchoring models with data from test and launch
In order to be successful in this role, you should be someone who thrives in ambiguity and is able to lead their own projects into completion. A high degree of drive and autonomy is required. You must be flexible to changes in strategic direction and willing to push your understanding and intuition to ensure we as a company are producing the best possible product. You will be directly responsible for mission-critical systems and processes as a technical authority for one or multiple fluid systems and/or processes on the launch vehicle. Along with these high expectations comes the opportunity to have a significant influence on a fast-growing startup company and to oversee rapid progress in an environment that encourages growth and risk.
About You:
- Bachelor’s degree (Mechanical Engineering or relevant)
- 5+ years of experience working with fluids systems
- Experience applying engineering fundamentals in system design, thermodynamics, fluid dynamics, and heat transfer
- Experience with one or more fluid or thermal modeling tools for internal compressible and incompressible analysis
- Experience with programming languages such as Matlab, Python, or C++
Nice to haves, but not required:
- Experience with launch vehicles and spacecraft
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:
$142,000—$181,500 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.
Top Skills
Relativity Space Long Beach, California, USA Office
We have two sites in Long Beach, CA's Space Beach: "The Wormhole," a 1M sq. ft. factory, once Boeing C-17's home. Nearby, "The Portal" supports Aeon R engine production for our Terran R launch vehicle.
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