Senior Technical Program Manager, Vehicle Software

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 beyondthe 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. Nowis a unique moment in time where it’s early enough to leave your mark on the product, the process, andthe 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 Vehicle Software team develops the safety-critical software that runs on Terran R. The work spans a distributed, real-time control system operating under extreme conditions like Mach 5 atmospheric flight, with a deployment pace that allows you to see your code run on rocket engines daily. The team is building new system architecture from the ground up and just as importantly, testing, releasing, and deploying it.

You don’t need an aerospace background: what matters is experience with high-reliability software for complex systems. This is a rare opportunity to shape the foundation of Terran R’s software stack while directly influencing performance, reliability, and flight success.

About the Role:

As the Vehicle Software Technical Program Manager, you’ll help the team plan, prioritize, track, and develop our large portfolio of software applications that fly Terran R.

• Timeline/Schedule: Analyze requirements, resources, and dependencies to create and rally the team around a reliable timeline and schedule. Strategically align and integrate our hybrid agile software execution and delivery model into the vehicle program waterfall schedule.
• Progress Tracking & Reporting: Monitor and report progress towards organizational goals, objectives, and milestones. Facilitate team interactions and ensure transparent communication of program status to relevant stakeholders.
• Dependency Mapping: Identify dependencies that are critical to program deliverables and provide visibility to cross-functional teams.
• Programmatic Risk Management: Identify and manage program risks (time, requirements, resources, dependencies, etc.)
• Execution Multiplier: Collect and monitor key metrics related to execution such as team velocity and defect counts and use them to collaborate with team leaders to continually improve our processes. Help the team meet schedule through relentless problem solving and removal of blockers.

About You:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or other related technical field
• 5+ years of experience working on a complex technical software project as a program manager and/or software engineer
  • Software development experience in C++, Rust, and/or Python
• Experience managing programs, building sustainable processes, and coordinating engineering activities
• Experience leading by influence and collaborating with technical owners to establish a plan
• Experience solving complex technical problems, managing ambiguity and designing robust, scalable solutions
• Experience communicating effectively, adjusting approach across stakeholders and teams to navigate both technical and business discussions
• Experience with project management tools like Smartsheet, MS Project, or comparable
• Experience with the Atlassian tool suite, Git Lab/Git, CI/CD

Nice to Haves:

• Prior work on a launch vehicle or…