Staff Manufacturing Engineer, Primary Structures

Relativity Space; Long Beach (CA); On-site; USD 143,000 - 215,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

PTO

Sick leave

Parental leave

Learning stipend

Equity

Job summary

Relativity Space in Long Beach is building the Terran R rocket and redefining manufacturing with a factory-first approach. The Stage Manufacturing team owns the build of Terran R’s primary structures, collaborating with design, manufacturing, reliability, and vendors to drive progress and scale.

Join a team that values autonomy, ownership and impact, and contribute to process improvements, work instructions, and best practices to keep production moving and help bring this ambitious vehicle from

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in manufacturing, aerospace, mechanical engineering or related field.
• 8+ years progressive experience in complex assembly and aerospace manufacturing.
• Ability to make risk decisions to keep production moving.

Responsibilities

• Provide DFMA feedback to structures during development and prototype builds.
• Collaborate with design, manufacturing, and reliability teams and external vendors to drive progress.
• Cover the shop floor for primary structure work center assembly and unblock production.
• Champion process improvements across work centers for better assembly.
• Create work instructions and best practices to standardize manufacturing processes.

Skills

Aerospace manufacturing

GD&T

Engineering fundamentals

Machining knowledge

Education

Bachelor's degree in manufacturing or aerospace or mechanical 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 Stage Manufacturing team turns design into reality, owning the build of Terran R’s primary structures. This isn’t about turning the same bolt every day; it’s about building the systems to build the rocket. Engineers and technicians work side by side, with deep collaboration and real-time feedback, to shape how we build better and faster. With a manifest and a launch date, it’s up to the team to deliver on Terran R: solving challenges in real time, optimizing for scale, and constantly improving processes. As the vehicle evolves, so will the factory, with opportunities to apply automation, machine learning, and advanced technologies. What we build here sets the blueprint for the future of scaled launch.

About The Role

• Provide Design for Manufacturing feedback to structures teams during the development phase and through the first prototype and flight builds.
• Collaborate closely with a diverse team of engineers specializing in design, manufacturing, and reliability, as well as internal production teams and external vendors, leveraging their collective expertise to drive progress.
• Cover the shop floor for all primary structure work center assembly work, clearing barriers and keeping production moving.
• Champion process improvements across multiple work centers to improve assembly operations and incorporate feedback and learnings from the first Terran R build.
• Create work instructions, specifications, and best practices across multiple high-fidelity processes. Help standardize processes across the manufacturing team.

About You

• Bachelor’s degree in manufacturing, aeronautical, mechanical engineering, or other engineering discipline.
• 8+ years progressive and related experience required.
• Strong history of supporting complicated assembly builds and capable of making risk decisions on a regular basis to disposition issues during build and keep production moving.
• Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to interface with engineering and manufacturing groups to understand process constraints and provide design inputs for improved manufacturability.
• Strong engineering fundamentals in statics, mechanics of materials, process improvement/factory design, fastening and joining, machining.
• Expert knowledge of common drilling and trim ops, other manufacturing processes, tools, inspection methods and GD&T.

Nice To Haves But Not Required

• Direct experience with forming, welding, drill, trim and fastening operations for aerospace products.
• New product introduction of an aerospace hardware system into a manufacturing, test, and production system with proven success.
• Experience in managing projects in a fast‑paced environment.

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

$143,000—$215,000 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].

Please note: Relativity Space does not accept unsolicited resumes, candidate profiles, or referrals from recruitment agencies or search firms. Any unsolicited submission - via email, our website, social media, or directly to an employee - will be deemed the property of Relativity Space, and no fee will be owed absent a current, fully executed agreement with Talent Acquisition that specifically authorizes submissions for the applicable role.