Principal Mechanical Design Engineer, Factory Automation

Job Description 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. 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 a company 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 Tooling and Factory Automation team sits at the intersection of design, manufacturing, and automation, making everything from large-scale structural fixtures to small tools that directly enable Terran R's production. As a design group embedded within the manufacturing organization, we address the needs of our internal partners to understand root problems, propose solutions, and deliver hardware to help build faster, scale smarter, and work better. The team is also leading Relativity's growing factory automation efforts, an increasingly critical part of scaling production of Terran R at existing and future facilities. You'll have the autonomy to make decisions, field solutions, and see them in action on the factory floor. Ultimately, you're not just designing tools or automated processes; you're defining how rockets and factories get built. About the Role: The Mechanical Design Engineers are responsible for designing and developing tools and factory automation equipment that support manufacturing. The Mechanical Engineering team works closely with Design and Manufacturing, translating top-level requirements and concepts into functional, delivered equipment. The Mechanical Design Engineering team brings innovation and ingenuity into the design process, building out a highly automated production facility. Develop high-quality development and production tooling and automation solutions for the Terran vehicle and Aeon engine programs. Integrate concepts and principles of mechanical design and analysis across multiple projects in a fast-paced environment. Interpret and apply sound design and drafting standards (ASME Y14.5) in creating tooling drawing definitions. Handle a wide range of technical problems related to material handling, assembly fixtures, off-loaders, rotisseries, test fixtures, structural weldments, environmental chambers, and custom machines. Collaborate with component designers, manufacturing engineers, and integration engineering to optimize safety, cost, quality, cycle time, delivery, reliability, and maintainability. Manage projects including vendor selection, fabrication, inspection, equipment installation, and commissioning of tooling. About You: Bachelor's degree in manufacturing engineering, mechanical engineering, or equivalent. 15+ years of experience in designing, building, and commissioning tooling and fixtures for manufacturing, assembly, and testing. Proficiency with CAD and FEA software (NX and ANSYS Workbench) for structural analysis. Experience managing full-cycle projects. Experience in strategic buildout and project management of tooling supporting production. Nice to Have: Expertise in design for manufacturability and assembly, including transitioning products from prototype to production. Understanding of manufacturing materials, GD&T, and tolerance stack-up analysis. Knowledge of manufacturing processes and machinery such as mills, lathes, welding, sheet-metal bending, lifting/rigging, assembly, and inspection. Experience designing custom machines, including motors, actuators, linear rails/actuators, pneumatics, and bearings. At Relativity Space, we are committed to transparency and fairness in our compensation practices. Actual compensation will be based on experience, qualifications, and other factors. Compensation includes a competitive salary and equity, generous PTO and sick leave, parental leave, an annual learning stipend, and more. For details, please visit our benefits page. Hiring Range: $196,000—$253,000 USD We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity. We do not discriminate based on race, color, religion, national origin, marital status, veteran status, or other protected classes.

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