Vehicle Manufacturing Engineer I, Primary Structures

Posted:
9/26/2024, 12:22:55 PM

Location(s):
California, United States ⋅ Long Beach, California, United States

Experience Level(s):
Junior ⋅ Mid Level

Field(s):
Mechanical Engineering

At Relativity Space, we have two audacious goals: to build the next great commercial launch company with Terran R and to become America's leading force in additive manufacturing innovation. Both contribute to our long-term vision of creating humanity’s industrial base on Mars, paving the way for interplanetary life to expand the possibilities of the human experience. This journey begins right here on Earth – where we design, build, and fly rockets to deliver customer payloads to orbit. Terran R, our medium-to-heavy lift reusable rocket, fulfills the growing demand for launch capacity, thanks to our iterative approach that accelerates design, testing, and development while minimizing costs. While our groundbreaking research and development in 3D printing pushes the boundaries of large-scale additive manufacturing.

Your journey with us is more than just a job – it’s an opportunity to shape the future of aerospace technology, additive manufacturing, and the human experience alongside a community of passionate, creative individuals. Join us on this extraordinary journey, as we work together to transform our vision into reality.

About the Team: 

The Manufacturing team at Relativity Space is currently deep in manufacturing trades and process development for Terran R, our next generation, reusable rocket. This team has a wide variety of responsibilities—from determining the most efficient factory floor layout, to developing and implementing complex tooling and processes, and even interfacing with the vehicle engineering team to heavily influence the design of the rocket. Unique to Relativity, you will get to work across many teams to iterate and support development of the vehicle program. 

About the Role:

  • Own a major primary structure assembly station for Terran R, as well as all associated flight parts and assembly processes, defining operational strategies and working to build upon existing methods
  • Support the shop floor through live issue resolution and provide upstream feedback as we innovate the next generation of manufacturing technology  
  • Generate high quality work instructions, specifications, and best practices across multiple high-fidelity processes. Standardize processes where possible, and partner with production team to increase takt and throughput rates.  
  • Support conceptual and detailed design of major tooling assemblies alongside tooling engineering. Support procurement, commissioning, and initial trial builds, ensuring tooling is delivered on time and with the right capabilities 
  • Represent the manufacturing organization in focused cross-functional teams to down-select concepts that are being evaluated for feasibility  
  • Provide Design for Manufacturing feedback to structures teams during the development phase and through the first prototype and flight builds.   

About You:

  • Bachelor’s degree in mechanical or aerospace engineering, or other engineering discipline with 1+ years of related experience (internship experience counts!) 
  • Experience with CAD software such as NX, and basic working knowledge of GD&T  
  • Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to interface with cross-functional teams, including explaining complex topics to non-technical audiences  
  • A self-starter who is extremely detailed oriented and organized, able to manage large scope in a fast-paced environment  
  • Basic knowledge of vehicle structures, manufacturing and assembly processes, and mechanical components 
  • Ability to reason through complex problems and perform trade studies using first principles and engineering fundamentals to make informed decisions  

Nice to haves but not required:  

  • Experience with new process introduction in a manufacturing environment and/or building first article assemblies  
  • Experience authoring work instructions to build structural assemblies 
  • Demonstrated success with improving takt time in a production process, and/or transitioning products from prototype to mass production  
  • Working level knowledge of welding (fusion and friction stir welding), machining, precision drilling, mechanical fastening and torqueing, tool design and fabrication, NDT, subassembly build, etc.  

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:
$95,000$119,000 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.