Propulsion Engineer Intern

RippleMatch Inc.; Long Beach (CA); On-site; USD 28,000 - 41,000; Full time

Job summary

Relativity Space is offering a Propulsion Engineer Intern position for Summer 2024. You will join the Propulsion team responsible for design, development, testing, and manufacturing of Relativity’s Aeon engine family.

This internship provides hands-on experience across lifecycle stages. As an undergraduate or graduate student, you will collaborate across groups, perform analyses, build and test hardware, and contribute to iterative design cycles.

Qualifications

• Current undergraduate or graduate student pursuing a science, engineering, technology, or mathematics degree.
• Strong fundamentals in fluid mechanics/thermodynamics or structural design/analysis.
• Demonstrated ownership, problem-solving, and collaboration in school or work.
• Excitement and ability to learn quickly.

Responsibilities

• Assist propulsion engine design and integration tasks.
• Support testing campaigns with data collection and analysis.
• Work across teams to iterate on engine components and performance.
• Contribute to documentation and design reviews.

Skills

Ownership

Problem-solving

Team collaboration

Quick learning

Education

Current undergraduate or graduate student in STEM

Tools

Design and analysis software

Job description

At Relativity Space,we’rebuilding 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. Butthat’sjust 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'renot just executing tasks;you'resolving problems thathaven’tbeen solved before, helping develop a rocket, a factory, and a business from the ground up. Whetheryou’rein propulsion, manufacturing, software, avionics, or a corporate function,you’llcollaborate 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 storieswe’rewriting together. Now is a unique moment in timewhereit’searly 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 Propulsion team at Relativity is focused on developing and delivering highly performant and manufacturable engines for Terran R. Engineersare responsible forthe entire lifecycle of their parts, frominitialdesign through production to qualification and flight. The team fosters a culture ofbottoms-up decision-making, free from technical gatekeeping, where ownership and accountability are key at all levels. But designing engines with a quarter million pounds of thrust is just the beginning. As the flight configuration enters qualification, the team is now exploring modifications for future engines, including thrust upgrades, new cycles, and design for mass production.

About the Role

Relativity seeks a Propulsion Engineer Intern to join the Summer 2024 Internship Program. The Propulsion team at Relativity Space is responsible for the design, development, testing, and manufacturing of Relativity’s rocket engines. As a part of this team, you will help build, create, and iterate on the full product lifecycle of our Aeon-R engines!

• Propulsion Integrated Design: The Propulsion Integrated Design team is responsible forthe design, analysis, and development of engine integration hardware (the “glue” of the engine,) including primary and secondary structure, bellows, flex hoses, gimbals, manifolds, ducting, heatshield components, custom fittings, and more. In addition tocomponent-level hardware, the team owns engine layout and packaging, turning the 2D fluids schematic into a 3D reality by determining where and how every component is located and mounted, while managing configuration, interfaces, mass properties, engine loads, and collaboration with partner teams through assembly and test. If you are a well-rounded mechanical engineer who wants to work across diverse hardware while getting deep experience in mechanical design, thermal/structural analysis, prototyping, benchtop testing, and iterative design/analysis/test cycles, you will fit in well on this team!

• Turbomachinery: The Turbomachinery team designs and develops the turbopumps that power the Aeon Engine. As a member of the team, you'll work on activities such as building1D throughflow and CFD models for fluid passages and rotating blading, creating CAD models and performing structural analysis (from hand calculations to finite element analysis), or evaluating turbopump performance through test data review and resolving hardware issues during engine test campaigns.

• Combustion Devices: The Combustion Devices team designs and develops the combustion devices that power the Aeon Engine. Combustion devices are among the most thermally and structurally critical components in the engine, operating under extreme temperatures and pressures (we make controlled fire). As a member of the team, you’ll work as a responsible engineer, with cradle-to-grave ownership of your hardware from design through manufacturing to test. The RE role provides technical ownership at the component level: you’ll gain experience coordinating across disciplines and direct accountability for hardware decisions.

• Engine Systems & Test: On the Engine Systems & Test Team our work spans simulation & software tools; system-level architecture, requirements, and interfaces; component & integrated system hotfire testing. In the test part of your role, you will serve as a Responsible Engineer for Aeon engine test articles, developing test plans, executing them with our Stennis test team, and troubleshooting technical puzzles along the way. On the systems side, you may support engine system analysis and simulation, trade studies, and defining interfaces with other groups

About You

• Current undergraduate or graduate student earning your degree in a science, engineering, technology, or mathematics field

• Strong engineering fundamentals in either fluid mechanics & thermodynamics, or structural design & analysis (not required to be proficient in all areas)

• Clear evidence of ownership, problem-solving skills, and effective team collaboration from school or work experience

• Excitement & ability to learn quickly

Nice to Haves but Not Required

• Experience applying engineering fundamentals in thermodynamics, thermal, structural, and/or fluids to solve real-world problems.

• Hands-on experience manufacturing, integrating, or testing hardware.

• Working knowledge of liquid-propellant rocket engines

• Experience with design and analysis software

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminateon the basis ofrace, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.