Staff Mechanical Engineer (Mechanisms)

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.

About the Role: 

To support our mission of changing the way rockets are built and flown you will guide the design of Terran R mechanisms such as stage separation payload deployment aero control features and landing gear. To be successful you will be working collaboratively with partner groups such as structures avionics and fluids; and leverage our additive process and design freedom to design and build better products. The scope of work encompasses a full design cycle including conceptualization trade studies design analysis manufacturing and testing of components.

Here are some examples of projects you could be working on:

• Design and test the Terran R stage separation or fairing deployment system
• Innovative conceptualization of the Terran R landing gear or aero surfaces actuation
• Definition of design criteria and subsystems requirements
• Review of static and dynamic load inputs material properties & manufacturing process
• Conduct trade studies on different mechanism design concepts and present to leadership

Your mission will be to deliver on time and budget. You will be challenged to integrate as many subsystems within our printed primary structure and support the development of our additive process to make this a reality. To achieve this you will be working closely with our vehicle design test and loads teams as well as our additive and manufacturing teams.

In order to be successful in this role you should be someone who is self-motivated thrives in ambiguity and is able to lead his or her own projects to completion. Ideally you are someone who has come from a fast-paced environment having completed difficult projects with extreme ownership while collaborating effectively with other key groups.

About You:  

• Bachelor's degree in engineering or related technical discipline
• 8+ years of experience in a full cycle design engineering role including CAD analysis build and test
• Fundamental knowledge of kinematic synthesis pneumatic/hydraulic actuation mechatronics and instrumentation
• Fundamental knowledge of structures strength stability and fatigue failure modes
• Basic knowledge of manufacturing processes materials and surface treatments
• Proven track record of technical problem-solving and hands-on hardware build experience
• Communication and interpersonal skills to lead discussions on complex technical topics

Nice to haves but not required:  

• 10+ years of aerospace experience or an advanced engineering degree
• Experience with launch vehicle mechanisms and multi-body dynamics analysis
• Experience in a demanding fast pace development environment
• Experience with design engineering tools such as NX TeamCenter Ansys or Femap as well as engineering scripting language such as Python or MATLAB
• Hands-on experience with fabrication/prototyping such as machining 3D printing welding woodworking

What We Do

Relativity Space is on a mission to better connect humanity to space and the universe beyond our planet. Our medium-to-heavy lift reusable rocket Terran R 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.

Why Work With Us

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.

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