Senior Mechanisms Systems Engineer

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.

The Mechanisms Team at Relativity Space designs and delivers the complex, high‑performance mechanical systems that enable launch‑vehicle flight, landing, and reusability. We own the full lifecycle of mission‑critical hardware—actuators, latches, and thrust vector control (TVC) systems—while partnering deeply with Guidance, Navigation & Control (GNC), Avionics, and Software to create integrated, operable solutions. Our work spans concept development through design, analysis, test, flight operations, and recovery, always balancing performance, reliability, and build rate.

As a Senior Mechanisms Systems Engineer, you will be the technical and programmatic owner for large, cross‑discipline mechanism systems such as thrust vector control. Reporting directly to the Mechanisms team, you will lead system‑level design and integration, guiding requirements, architecture, and verification across hardware and software interfaces.

• Define system concepts of operations (CONOPS), requirements, and verification plans.
• Lead integrated product activities across mechanical design, actuators, GNC, avionics, and software teams to ensure seamless system performance.
• Drive development tests, functional verification, and flight readiness by authoring test plans, executing tests, and establishing success criteria.
• Anticipate technical and logistical risks, develop mitigation strategies, and align priorities across engineering disciplines and schedules.
• Coordinate the design, manufacturing, integration, and test schedules for complex mechanism systems.
• Take hands‑on ownership of emergent challenges—whether designing test fixtures, specifying sensors, writing test automation, or leading root‑cause investigations.

This role occasionally requires travel to test and launch sites and may involve shifted or weekend schedules to support critical milestones.

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Aerospace, or related engineering field and 5+ years of relevant experience in design, manufacturing, assembly, or test of complex mechanical or electromechanical systems.
• Proven ability to lead multi‑disciplinary projects and deliver on ambitious schedules.
• Strong technical judgment and the ability to communicate complex concepts across engineering and leadership audiences.
• Demonstrated experience balancing requirements, cost, and schedule while driving system integration and verification.

• Background in actuator systems, flight mechanisms, or thrust vector control.
• Experience with motor‑control tuning and model‑based design using MATLAB/Simulink.
• Experience with integrated hardware/software testing and verification.
• Familiarity with reusability and rapid‑iteration development environments.

Hiring Range: $132,000—$181,500 USD. Compensation will be determined based on experience, qualifications, and other job‑related factors. Relativity Space offers competitive salary and equity, generous PTO and sick leave policy, parental leave, an annual learning and development stipend, and more.

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.

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