Senior Propulsion Simulation Engineer

Company Overview:  

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.

Team:  

This role is on the Engine Systems & Test Team. Our work spans simulation & software tools; system-level architecture, requirements, and interfaces; component & integrated system hot-fire testing; and more. We collaborate closely with component
engineers, our manufacturing team, our Stennis test team, and our Cape launch team to deliver engines that will successfully propel the Terran rocket to orbit. We strive for continuous improvement and support the development of our technical hardware and human teammates alike.

What you’ll do: 

In this role, you will build and apply thermo-fluids simulation tools (primarily 1D) to model various systems across the Aeon engine. You will use these tools to support a variety of efforts including engine test campaigns, supporting trade studies, guiding component design, augmenting test data review, developing engine sequences, and predicting/tuning operating condition & performance. You will be responsible for identifying weaknesses in our simulation tools, and post-processing engine test data to improve our understanding/modeling of engine systems. You will also take ownership of projects of your creation to increase our collective efficiency. 

To be successful in this role, you should be capable of collaborating with partner teams and performing the above responsibilities with minimal oversight. You should also be a self-starter who is always looking for ways to improve yourself & learn more about your system (and others that interface with it). Along with these high expectations comes the opportunity to have a significant influence on a fast-growing startup company and to make rapid professional gains in an environment that encourages growth and risk.

This role requires an average of 15% travel to our test & launch sites and may occasionally require shifted schedules or weekend work for critical milestones.

What you need to know:  

• Strong engineering fundamentals in fluid mechanics & thermodynamics
• Proficiency in Python and C++
• Experience building and applying physics-based simulations, ideally involving fluid mechanics
• Clear evidence of ownership, problem-solving skills, and effective team collaboration from school or work experience
• Demonstrated drive to deliver on ambitious schedules, even and especially if unconventional & creative solutions are necessary to do so
• Bachelor’s degree in a science, engineering, technology, or mathematics field
• 5+ years relevant experience, preferably working with simulation tooling in a complex engineering environment

Nice to haves but not required:  

• Working knowledge of fluid components such as valves and instrumentation
• Working knowledge of engine subsystems such as combustion devices and turbomachinery
• Knowledge of rocket engine system fundamentals and performance metrics
• Familiarity with relevant numerical methods (integration methods, optimization algorithms, etc.)
• Experience with test data review/analysis

Relativity Space offers competitive salary and equity, a generous vacation policy, an annual L&D stipend and more! 

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.