Staff Supplier Development Engineer

Relativity Space; Long Beach (CA); On-site; USD 155,000 - 197,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous PTO and sick leave

Annual learning and development stipend

Parental leave

Equity options

Job summary

A pioneering aerospace company is seeking a Quality Engineer to manage supplier quality for their rocket components. You will serve as the primary contact for resolving manufacturing issues and lead product introductions, ensuring high-quality production standards. The ideal candidate should have over 10 years in supplier quality engineering, a relevant engineering degree, and proficiency in quality standards like AS9100. The role offers a competitive salary and benefits, including generous PTO and parental leave.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in supplier quality or supplier development engineering.
• In-depth knowledge of industry standards like AS9100 and ISO 9001.
• Experience with New Product Development and PPAP implementation.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the technical point of contact for rocket parts and assemblies.
• Lead new product introduction by selecting manufacturing methods.
• Manage supplier sourcing and evaluations, ensuring compliance with quality standards.

Skills

Supplier quality engineering

Manufacturing processes expertise

Problem-solving (8D methodology)

Data analysis

Communication skills

Education

Bachelor’s degree in engineering or related STEM field

Tools

ERP systems

PLM software

MES

Job description

Overview

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.

About the Team

The Quality team is focused on embedding quality into every part of the design and production process for Terran R. Not just inspecting at the end but influencing how things are built from the start. The team embeds themselves directly within design, manufacturing, test, and launch teams to stay close to the hardware, understand constraints, and proactively shape decisions. As we move beyond initial development into production and then scaled operations, now is the time to put the right processes, controls, and inspections in place without slowing down progress. The team plays a key role in balancing risk, driving a culture of ownership, and ensuring that speed doesn’t come at the cost of reliability. Success here means building a quality system that scales with the Terran R program and Relativity as a whole.

About the Role

• Serve as the technical point of contact for rocket parts and assemblies, resolving manufacturing and quality issues to protect production schedules.
• Lead new product introduction by selecting manufacturing methods, identifying suppliers, and developing scalable processes.
• Conduct design for manufacturing (DFM) reviews and apply APQP principles to ensure efficient, high-quality production from early development stages. Leverage experience with Production Part Approval Process (PPAP), First Article Inspection Reports (FAIRs), and 8D problem solving.
• Manage supplier sourcing and evaluations, issue corrective actions, and ensure compliance with AS9100, ISO 9001, and NASA quality standards.
• Create and develop specifications to communicate quality and manufacturing requirements across the supply base.
• Analyze defect data, lead root cause investigations (e.g., 8D, PPAP, FAIR), and implement corrective actions to improve supplier performance.

About You

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, quality, or related STEM field
• You have 10+ years of experience in supplier quality or supplier development engineering, with in-depth knowledge of industry standards like AS9100, ISO 9001, and NASA quality standards and ERP/MRP system experience.
• You have a strong technical and experiential knowledge of manufacturing processes for space-quality hardware, including forming, cutting, machining, and assembly of various metals like stainless and carbon steels.
• You have experience with supplier quality processes such as Production Part Approval Process (PPAP), Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP), and First Article Inspection Reports (FAIR) with a disciplined approach to problem solving, such as 8D methodology.
• You have experience with New Product Development and PPAP implementation.
• You are a self-starter who can define and own a process from scratch and roll it out to a diverse team, with willingness to travel up to 50% of the work week when needed.

Nice to have

• Familiarity with high-volume inspection methods and data-driven acceptance methods
• Strong knowledge of enterprise applications (i.e., PLM, ERP, MES) and proficient in data analysis
• Self-starter that has demonstrated the ability to define and own a process from scratch and roll out that process through adept communication to a diverse team
• Experience with New Product Development and PPAP implementation

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: $155,000 — $197,000 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].