Stage Development Engineer I

relativity

Long Beach, California · Long Beach · United States

Posted Jul 27, 2026

Other
Vehicle Systems Engineering

Job description

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 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
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
Drive systems through qualification, acceptance, and hotfire test campaigns by writing/reviewing test objectives, test matrices, and test plans
Develop, manage, and execute operational plans and vehicle-level CONOPs during test, hotfire, and launch campaigns
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 0-2 years of relevant experience
Technical problem-solving skills and the ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment
Technical aptitude and basic understanding of all functional disciplines (Mechanical, Fluids, and & Electrical engineering)

Nice to haves but not required:

1+ years of experience on a vehicle

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:

$93,000—$139,000 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.