Integrated Performance Engineer Intern

Relativity Space; Long Beach (CA); On-site; USD 22,000 - 33,000; Full time

Job summary

Relativity Space in Long Beach, CA invites undergrad/grad students in engineering to join the Integrated Performance team on Terran R. You’ll study vehicle systems, perform analyses, and collaborate across propulsion, structures, and software to support flight projects.

This internship blends hands-on hardware interaction with data analysis, CFD and dynamics simulations, offering practical experience and a clear path to impact in a fast-moving rocket program.

Qualifications

• Current undergrad or grad student in a mechanical/physics/math/electrical engineering field.
• Experience with an engineering coding language like Python.
• Experience contributing to complex projects as part of a technical team.
• Passion for launch and entry vehicle physics, simulation, and operations.

Skills

Python

Teamwork

Education

Undergrad/Grad student in Mechanical Engineering, Physics, Applied Mathematics, or Electrical 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 Integrated Performance team owns the holistic view of how Terran R comes together, ensuring that every system on the vehicle and groundis capable of achievingour ambitiousobjectives. 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 teamoperateswitha rare scale: large enough to support complex development, yet small enough that individual contributors have meaningful impact.

About The Role

The Integrated Performance department at Relativity Spaceis responsible forensuring that our rockets will achieve our overallobjectivesand satisfy stringent customer and government requirements. Our departmentcomprisesteams responsible for:

• Flight Sciences (Aerodynamics, Thermal Sciences, Loads, and Dynamics)
• Integrated Structures Analysis
• Guidance, Navigation, Control & Vehicle Performance (GNCP)
• Systems Engineering
• Mission Reliability
• Product Engineering.

We architect and execute analysis, simulation, operations, and test projects for all of Relativity’s hardware and software teams in pursuit of mission success. Overall, this department is critical to the launch success of Terran R!

Previous Summer Intern Projects

• Launch vehicle trajectory design and optimization including launch availability and flight safety
• Process test data and flight data to ensure analysis predictions properly represent vehicle behavior
• Model stage separation including plume impingement to inform trajectory design of an entry vehicle
• Develop models and perform analysis for multiple payload deployment collision avoidance
• Develop dynamic loads and levels for launch vehicle hardware to design and test to
• Work with hardware designers to successfully execute to criteria established by the above
• Model coupled dynamics of engine actuators in a full vehicle dynamics simulation
• Upfront design work on creating a wall of truth for vehicle design
• Develop a script to automatically update a dashboard that displays abort values for testing and launch
• Perform CFD analysis of vehicle entry configurations, develop aero databases
• Analyze flight and engine hot fire data to characterize dynamic response behavior of Terran R
• Design, manufacture, and test hardware to aid in mitigation of dynamic environments and/or execution of dynamics testing

About You

• Current undergraduate or graduate student earning your degree in Mechanical Engineering, Physics, Applied Mathematics, Electrical Engineering or a related field
• Experience with an engineering coding language like Python
• Experience contributing to complex projects as part of a technical team
• Passion for launch and entry vehicle physics, simulation, and operations

Nice to Haves but Not Required

• 1+ years relevant internship experience

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.