Sr Additive Manufacturing Engineer,PBF Job Long Beach area,California USA,Engineering

Sr Additive Manufacturing Engineer, PBF

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. 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 Powder Bed Fusion Additive Manufacturing team is pushing the boundaries of what's possible in rocket propulsion hardware. Responsible for development, process, and production, the team oversees initial concept to final hardware with rigorous quality and precision. From developing print parameters on state-of-the-art 3D printers to enabling fast iteration for partner departments, the team plays a critical role in taking engine designs from concept to hot fire.

The team was instrumental in producing Aeon 1 engines for Terran 1 launch and is now pioneering next-generation processes and designs for our Aeon R engines that will power Terran R. With flight hardware production scaling up rapidly, now is the time to join and make a direct impact!

About the Role

Serve as technical owner for complex PBF hardware families, process-control systems, qualification changes, or high-risk manufacturing issues

Own build preparation, print programming strategy, manufacturing planning, and technical execution for assigned PBF hardware or product groups

Provide feedback to design team on printability, DfAM improvements, part consolidation opportunities, and manufacturability trade-offs

Define and improve PBF process specification architecture, change-control logic, verification requirements, acceptance criteria, and release documentation

Develop and maintain controlled PBF process documentation, build standards, work instructions, verification plans, and engineering decision records

Lead cross-functional technical investigations involving material failures, machine errors, inspection deviations, process escapes, hardware risk, and recurring nonconformances

Translate design, materials, quality, and production requirements into robust build strategies, verification plans, and manufacturing execution paths

Drive qualification and requalification strategy for changes to parameters, machines, powder, heat treatment, post-processing, inspection methods, or product-specific controls

Make clear technical recommendations under uncertainty, including risk acceptance, containment, retest strategy, production recovery, and long-term corrective action

Build scalable systems such as decision-ticket frameworks, dashboards, standards, readiness reviews, lessons-learned libraries, and ownership models

Mentor Level I and Level II engineers, review their technical work, and raise the team's standard for crisp writing, evidence-based decisions, and partner-team alignment

Represent PBF in program-level reviews, quality escalations, audit discussions, supplier/vendor technical conversations, and strategic planning

Identify department-level improvement opportunities that increase throughput, reproducibility, audit readiness, and hardware quality without creating unnecessary bureaucracy

About You

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science, Manufacturing Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or related field
4+ years industry experience in metal additive manufacturing; aerospace manufacturing environment
Deep understanding of laser powder bed fusion process controls, qualification logic, manufacturing risk, inspection feedback loops, and documentation requirements
Experience owning additive manufacturing products through the AM lifecycle (work orders, non conformances, etc.); through machining and further post processing
Experience in developing, analyzing, qualifying, and certifying AM parts for production; certifying for aerospace applications
Expertise in post-processing techniques for improved part quality (heat treatment, HIP, machining, surface finishing)
Experience with Additive Manufacturing tools such as EOSprint, Magics,…