Lead, Structural Analysis Engineering (Stress, Fatigue & Damage Tolerance) Long Beach, California

Relativity; Long Beach (CA); On-site; USD 136,000 - 187,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Generous PTO and sick leave policy

Parental leave

Annual learning and development stipend

Job summary

A cutting-edge aerospace company in Long Beach, California, is seeking a Structural Analysis Lead to provide technical leadership for the structural integrity and durability of flight hardware. The role involves defining and executing analysis strategies across static strength, fatigue, and damage tolerance. Candidates should have a Bachelor's in Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering and over 5 years of relevant experience. The position offers a competitive compensation package ranging from $136,000 to $187,000 annually, along with comprehensive benefits.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in structural analysis, fatigue & damage tolerance.
• Strong understanding of structural failure modes in aerospace hardware.
• Ability to independently scope and execute structural analyses.

Responsibilities

• Lead structural analysis activities for major vehicle structures.
• Define structural analysis methodologies and requirements.
• Support structural testing and analysis correlation.

Skills

Static stress analysis

Structural mechanics

Fatigue and fracture mechanics

Finite element analysis

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering

Tools

Nastran

Abaqus

Femap

NASGRO

AFGROW

Python

MATLAB

Job description

Lead, Structural Analysis Engineering (Stress, Fatigue & Damage Tolerance)

Long Beach, California

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. 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.

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 ambitious performance, reliability, and reusability goals. The team works across the full launch system—from trajectory design and aerodynamics to reliability analysis and post‑flight data review—with technical leadership influence across the entire product lifecycle. Beyond analysis, team members engage hands‑on with hardware, testing, and operations, with the authority to lead and drive meaningful programmatic change.

The Integrated Analysis group accelerates Relativity’s hardware engineering through advanced analysis, life prediction, and modern tools. The team enables robust, lightweight, and reusable structures by leading the integration of fatigue, fracture, durability, and inspection considerations early in design and throughout vehicle maturation.

About the Role

As a Structural Analysis Lead, you will provide technical leadership for the structural integrity, strength, durability, and life management of flight hardware across the vehicle. You will define and execute structural analysis strategies spanning static strength, fatigue and damage tolerance, fracture mechanics, and structural dynamics. In this role, you will guide the development, verification, and certification of primary and secondary structures from early design through flight operations. You will work closely with design, materials, manufacturing, and test teams to ensure structurally robust designs that meet performance, reliability, and reusability requirements.

Responsibilities

• Lead structural analysis activities for major vehicle structures across component, subsystem, and vehicle levels
• Define structural analysis methodologies, requirements, and design margins for flight‑critical hardware
• Provide technical leadership across static stress, fatigue, fracture mechanics, and durability assessments
• Stress & Structural Analysis
  • Perform and review static and dynamic stress analyses for metallic and additively manufactured structures
  • Develop and maintain finite element models using tools such as Nastran and Abaqus with pre/post environments such as Femap
  • Evaluate structural margins including yield, ultimate strength, buckling, thermal stress, and dynamic response
  • Support structural sizing and optimization of primary load‑bearing structures
  • Develop fatigue life and durability predictions using SN/EN methods and fracture mechanics approaches
  • Perform crack initiation and crack growth analyses using tools such as NASGRO and AFGROW
  • Establish fatigue allowables, crack growth limits, inspection intervals, and life limits for flight hardware
  • Translate time‑domain or spectral load environments into fatigue‑relevant stress histories and cumulative damage metrics
  • Translate flight, ground, acoustic, and thermal environments into structural loads and responses
  • Integrate loads and environments into structural analysis and fatigue life predictions
  • Support multidisciplinary analysis for vehicle‑level structural performance
• Test Correlation & Structural Validation
  • Lead correlation of structural and fatigue analyses with qualification and durability testing
  • Support structural testing, including component, subsystem, and full‑scale structural tests. Investigate anomalies and structural failures and update analysis models accordingly
  • Support structural life reassessment using test and flight data
• Cross‑Functional Leadership & Tools
  • Provide technical mentorship and guidance to structural analysts and engineers
  • Collaborate with design, materials, manufacturing, and test teams to ensure structurally robust and manufacturable designs
  • Establish and improve structural analysis standards, best practices, and verification workflows
  • Develop automation and analysis tools using scripting environments such as Python or MATLAB to improve analysis efficiency

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related discipline
• 5+ years of experience in structural analysis, fatigue & damage tolerance, or structural life assessment
• Strong understanding of:
  • Static stress analysis
  • Structural mechanics
  • Fatigue and fracture mechanics
  • Structural failure modes in aerospace hardware
• Proficiency with commercial finite element analysis tools such as:
• Nastran
• Abaqus
• Experience using pre/post‑processing environments such as Femap
• Proficiency with fracture mechanics software such as:
• NASGRO
• AFGROW
• Experience converting time‑domain or spectral loads into fatigue damage and life predictions
• Proficiency with engineering scripting or analysis languages such as Python or MATLAB
• Ability to independently scope, execute, review, and defend structural analyses

Nice to Haves, but Not Required

• Master’s or PhD in Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering
• Experience with launch vehicles, reusable aerospace systems, or flight‑critical hardware
• Experience with additive manufacturing structural analysis and fatigue characterization
• Familiarity with Elastic‑Plastic Fracture Mechanics (EPFM)
• Experience correlating structural, fatigue, or fracture predictions with test or flight data
• Prior experience defining structural design allowables or durability standards for aerospace systems

Compensation & Benefits

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.

Hiring Range

$136,000 - $187,000 USD

Equal Opportunity Employer

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.