Lead Software Engineer - Factory Platform Software

Front Door Defense; Long Beach (CA); On-site; USD 157,000 - 215,500; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Generous PTO

Learning and development stipend

Job summary

Front Door Defense in Long Beach, California is searching for a Lead Software Engineer to automate manufacturing workflows and lead a team of software engineers. This role requires full accountability for the software development lifecycle while encouraging the growth of team members.

The ideal candidate has over 5 years of experience, expertise in React and backend languages like Go or Python, and substantial management experience. Competitive salary and benefits are offered, including PTO and learning stipends.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of software engineering experience across multiple production systems.
• Proven track record in hiring and developing engineers.
• Expert in React and modern frontend tooling.

Responsibilities

• Manage a team of software engineers and conduct performance reviews.
• Set and uphold engineering standards across the team.
• Lead architectural design for new features and systems.

Skills

Software engineering

Team management

Architectural design

Python

React

Go

Education

Bachelor’s in Computer Science or related

Tools

AWS

GCP

Kubernetes

PostgreSQL

Job description

Lead Software Engineer - Factory Platform

Own the development of the Factory Platform to automate manufacturing workflows from design to launch

Location: Long Beach, California, United States

Compensation: $157,000 - 215,500 USD / year

About the Role

At Relativity Space, we’re building rockets to serve today’s needs and tomorrow’s breakthroughs. Our Terran R vehicle will deliver payloads to orbit, unlocking opportunities to advance science, exploration, and innovation. Joining Relativity gives you autonomy, ownership, and impact at every level, allowing you to solve unprecedented problems and contribute to a factory, a business, and a mission from the ground up.

About the Team

The Terrestrial Software team builds the foundation for an automated rocket factory and integrated launch platform. The mission is to automate and streamline workflows across the entire lifecycle of Terran R, from raw material intake to launch operations and beyond. Core work includes designing, implementing, and deploying enterprise-wide applications, industrial automation, data analytics infrastructure, and AI solutions to accelerate progress.

About the Role

As a Lead Software Engineer, you combine hands‑on technical leadership and people management. You own the full software development lifecycle for your squad—from concept and trade study through implementation, deployment, and iteration—while also being accountable for the growth, performance, and hiring of team members.

• Manage a team of software engineers: conduct 1:1s, deliver performance reviews, support career development, and drive hiring.
• Set and uphold engineering standards: code quality, testing, deployment practices, incident response, and on‑call culture.
• Lead architectural design and trade studies for new features and systems across planning, scheduling, purchasing, manufacturing operations, and test data tooling.
• Maintain meaningful individual contribution—ship code and drive results.
• Partner with cross‑functional stakeholders (manufacturing, operations, propulsion, test & launch) to translate domain requirements into software.
• Mentor and grow engineers at all levels; identify gaps in the team and close them through coaching or hiring.

Technologies We Use

• Python, React, TypeScript, Go
• Iceberg, BigQuery, DuckDB, DBT, PostgreSQL
• AWS, GCP, Kubernetes (cloud and on‑prem), Terraform, Helm

About You

• Bachelor’s or higher in Computer Science or a related engineering field.
• 5+ years of software engineering experience across multiple production systems.
• Proven track record hiring, retaining, and developing engineers.
• Expert in React and modern frontend tooling.
• Fluent in at least one backend language (Go, Python) and willing to traverse the stack.
• Comfortable driving architectural decisions and building buy‑in across engineering and non‑engineering stakeholders.
• Strong written and verbal communication—capable of writing crisp design documentation and delivering timely feedback.

Nice to Haves

• 2+ years in an engineering management or tech lead–manager role with direct reports.
• Experience designing and scaling service architectures for high‑performance frontend operations.
• Background in systems‑level programming (synchronization, memory management).
• Experience with low‑latency or safety‑critical software.
• History of shipping software across large, multi‑platform codebases.

Benefits and Compensation

Relativity Space offers competitive salary and equity, generous PTO and sick leave, parental leave, an annual learning and development stipend, and more. The hiring range for this role is $157,000 - $215,500 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].