Aerodynamics Engineer I

Relativity Space; Long Beach (CA); On-site; USD 90,000 - 136,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary and equity

Generous PTO and sick leave policy

Parental leave

Annual learning and development stipend

Job summary

Relativity Space in Long Beach, California, is seeking an Aerodynamics Engineer to tackle complex design challenges for reusable launch vehicles. You will develop CFD analyses, guide hardware engineers, and contribute to the design of Terran R system elements.

The ideal candidate has strong skills in compressible flow and practical engineering experience. This role offers a competitive salary, equity options, and a generous benefits package including PTO and parental leave.

Qualifications

• Significant compressible flow and HPC experience preferred.
• Practical engineering experience from project teams or internships.
• Ability to resolve ambiguity and drive projects to completion.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute CFD analyses for vehicle entry stability.
• Validate CFD approaches and establish best practices.
• Drive design of major Terran R system elements.

Skills

Proficiency in compressible flow

Familiarity with Python

Experience solving technical problems in teams

Education

Undergraduate degree in engineering or related field

Tools

Industry-standard CFD tools like FUN3D

Python

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 Integrated Performance team owns the holistic view of how Terran R comes together, ensuring that every system on the vehicle and ground is capable of achieving our ambitious objectives. The team works across the full launch system, from trajectory design and aerodynamics to reliability analysis and beyond, with direct influence on all parts of the product lifecycle, from conceptual design to post‑flight data review. Beyond analysis, team members engage hands‑on with hardware and operations, with the mission and authority to drive meaningful programmatic change. With a unique organizational structure, the integrated performance team spans multiple technical domains and embeds directly with partner teams to solve the hardest multi‑disciplinary problems. The team operates with a rare scale: large enough to support complex development, yet small enough that individual contributors have meaningful impact.

The Aerodynamics team:

The Aerodynamics team shapes Relativity’s vehicle products by tackling intricate design challenges inherent to reusable launch vehicles. Drawing on a strong foundation in external and compressible flows, the team addresses a wide spectrum of aerodynamic challenges across all flight phases. Leveraging computational fluid dynamics (CFD), wind tunnel testing, reduced order modeling, and flight data, we take a proactive approach to supporting cross‑disciplinary design initiatives. Our collaboration with hardware engineers further enables us to overcome design and integration hurdles, ensuring a seamless and efficient development process from concept and through launch.

About the Role:

• Develop and execute CFD analyses to solve novel challenges in vehicle entry stability and control
• Validate CFD approaches and establish CFD best practices for ascent and entry phases of flight
• Scope and develop aerodynamics databases for ascent and entry including uncertainty quantification from CFD, wind tunnel, and empirical data sources
• Drive the design of major Terran R system elements – like fins, flaps, and primary structure – to meet criteria for control, stability, heating, and pressure
• Guide and mentor responsible hardware engineers to ensure hardware meets aerodynamics and system‑level requirements
• Mature Relativity’s tools for developing and communicating aerodynamics data, including custom and commercial code, databases, and data processing tools

To be successful in this role, you should be self‑motivated, adaptable, and able to contribute significantly to a fast‑paced, integrated vehicle program. You should also be able to resolve ambiguity and drive projects to completion. Ideally, you have significant compressible flow, CFD, and high‑performance computing (HPC) experience, as well as a proven track record for completing projects successfully in a highly collaborative environment.

On a weekly basis, you will be performing analysis, developing software tools, and supporting design teams. You will also use your strong organizational skills to properly manage the documentation and communication of your actions, recommendations, and decisions.

About You:

• Undergraduate degree in engineering or related field
• Proficiency in compressible flow
• Practical engineering experience, e.g., from project teams, internships, or research labs
• Experience solving challenging technical problems in teams
• Familiarity with Python or another scripting language like Matlab
• Exposure to industry‑standard CFD tools like FUN3D or Star‑CCM+

Nice to Haves, but Not Required:

• Graduate degree in engineering or related field
• Familiarity with hardware design using aerodynamic data
• Exposure to instrumentation and testing
• Familiarity with launch vehicles
• Use of HPC clusters

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: $90,000 — $136,000 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 [e-mail].