About the Team: 

The Interplanetary Sciences Program was established to expand access to scientific exploration across our solar system. Its mission is to make planetary research faster, more affordable, and more capable than ever before by rethinking how science missions are designed, built, and operated. The program aims to enable scientists to send instruments to distant worlds without decades of development or prohibitive costs. By creating a sustainable model for interplanetary exploration, we are transforming space science from an occasional event into a continuous process of discovery that accelerates knowledge, broadens participation, and inspires the next generation of explorers.

About the Role:

You'll own the compute hardware from architecture through bring up — there's no hand-off to another team mid-stream. You pick the components, you design the board, you're the one powering it on and debugging it with the software team

• Design the compute boards that deliver ≥10 TFLOPS of processing power for onboard AI/ML inference and science data processing within the Relay Data Center, owning the hardware from schematic capture through board-level validation
• Architect and implement power delivery networks for high-complexity carrier boards, including 500W+ multi-rail designs with tight sequencing integrating GPU or CPU compute modules onto custom PCBs with high-speed coherent interconnects
• Define thermal interface requirements (power dissipation budgets, junction temperature limits, interface material selection) and hand off specifications to the mechanical team, who own the thermal and packaging solution
• Design and validate high-speed memory interfaces (HBM, DDR5), PCIe Gen 4/5 chip-to-chip links, and 10 GbE+ Ethernet connections to the payload network, along with board-level power monitoring, current limiting, and radiation upset recovery circuitry
• Lead hardware bringup and board-level validation. Diagnose and resolve issues hands-on while collaborating closely with the software engineers who are building the software environment on top of your hardware

About You:

• BSEE with 5+ years designing and bringing up high-speed digital compute boards, ideally with direct exposure to GPU, HPC, or modern accelerator platforms
• Proficient in high-speed digital PCB design principles: multi-GHz signaling, dense BGA escape routing on high layer count stackups, and signal integrity analysis through both simulation and measurement
• Strong command of power integrity and power delivery network design, including multi-rail architectures, power management IC selection, voltage sequencing, and board-level current limiting
• Strong working experience with high-speed serial interface design, analysis and debug, particularly PCIe Gen 4/5 topology, configuration, and Ethernet

Nice to haves but not required:  

• Experience writing basic firmware for hardware bring up and validation 
• Hands-on embedded systems debug skills that let you move between careful pre-fab analysis and fast, practical problem-solving on the bench
• Experience with COTS hardware for space applications, including radiation awareness, component derating, and upset mitigation techniques (ECC memory scrubbing, watchdog/reset architectures)
• Hands-on experience with physical PCB layout, particularly for complex, high-layer-count boards with dense BGA packages
• Familiarity with thermal management at the board and system level, including junction temperature modeling, thermal interface material selection, and collaborating with mechanical engineers on packaging solutions for high-TDP modules

About the Team: 

The Interplanetary Sciences Program was established to expand access to scientific exploration across our solar system. Its mission is to make planetary research faster, more affordable, and more capable than ever before by rethinking how science missions are designed, built, and operated. The program aims to enable scientists to send instruments to distant worlds without decades of development or prohibitive costs. By creating a sustainable model for interplanetary exploration, we are transforming space science from an occasional event into a continuous process of discovery that accelerates knowledge, broadens participation, and inspires the next generation of explorers. 

About the Role:

The storage platform is one of the foundations for accelerating scientific discovery: science instruments write to it, onboard AI reads from it, and the communications subsystems downlink the data on it to Earth.   

You will define the storage architecture and build it yourself. This is not a role where someone else hands you a design and you implement it, and it's not a role where you write architecture documents and hand them to someone else to build. You will make the foundational architectural decisions (redundancy topology, replication strategy, failure domain boundaries, consistency guarantees, write-lifecycle management), build and test prototypes on commodity hardware, and then build the low-level systems code that makes those decisions real: storage drivers, filesystem integration, and fault recovery systems that survive radiation upsets across the full mission lifetime. You'll carry the design from proof-of-concept on commodity hardware through integration on flight hardware, validating every architectural assumption with fault injection testing along the way. 

• Own the redundancy and replication architecture across multiple NAS units on two independent hardware strings, defining the consistency model for cross-string replication, the precise bound on acceptable data loss during a radiation-induced crash, and the storage platform's contractual guarantees in every degraded state: drive level, NAS unit, or full string failure. Codify this as the failure mode matrix that drives every implementation decision downstream 
• Select the filesystem and design the pool architecture, confirming or revising the current ZFS baseline and owning the final configuration. Validate through quantitative reliability modeling that balance upset probability, rebuild risk, write endurance, and usable capacity over the full mission
• Define the write-endurance budget for a multi-year operational lifetime, allocating write capacity across continuous science ingest, continuous data reduction, periodic bulk reanalysis by onboard AI, and archival snapshots to produce data retention policies that retain key science data through end of mission
• Design the interface contracts between the storage platform and the science instrument, compute, and communication subsystems, defining what the storage platform guarantees, what it doesn't, and what happens when a consumer violates the contract while the platform is already in a degraded state 
• Build the storage fault detection and recovery path at the hardware boundary (e.g., kernel driver, block layer, or firmware level) to take a radiation-induced upset from initial detection through filesystem re-integration and ensure transient failures never become data loss 
• Build automated fault recovery that handles every scenario in the failure mode matrix, validated through sustained fault injection campaigns on the hardware-in-the-loop testbed to confirm the architecture performs as specified under real failure conditions. 

About You:

• Demonstrated ability to make and defend architectural tradeoffs in writing: design documents, RFCs, or equivalents that other engineers built against
• 7+ years experience designing software systems for high reliability over long operational lifetimes: defining redundancy topology, failure domain boundaries, and degraded-mode behavior
• Track record of reasoning about failure modes before they occur: identifying what breaks, defining impact radius, and designing recovery paths at the system level, not just the component level
• Experience working at or near the storage system boundary in kernel, driver, firmware, storage infrastructure, or equivalent developments where you had to reason about hardware behavior and failure modes
• Experience with storage systems that maintain data integrity under faults (copy-on-write filesystems, log-structured storage, RAID architectures, or replication systems)

Nice to haves but not required:  

• Familiarity with distributed storage replication models: synchronous vs. async, quorum systems, chain replication, and opinions about when each is appropriate
• Experience designing storage or data systems that must remain available and consistent across independent failure domains
• Experience defining interface contracts between storage platforms and upstream consumers — databases, data pipelines, application frameworks
• Depth in one or more of: filesystem internals, block layer and device management, storage protocol implementation, or fault-tolerant storage infrastructure
• Strong working knowledge of storage data structures and systems reasoning — Merkle trees, NVMe submission/completion queue ring buffers, hash tables, radix trees
• Hands-on experience at the driver/hardware boundary: DMA coherency, MMIO semantics, PCIe enumeration, and cache behavior
• Experience testing storage systems under fault injection: PCIe/NVMe resets, error storms, low-level tracing (ftrace/perf/bpftrace), and crash dump analysis (kdump/vmcore)

About the Team: 

The Interplanetary Sciences Program was established to expand access to scientific exploration across our solar system. Its mission is to make planetary research faster, more affordable, and more capable than ever before by rethinking how science missions are designed, built, and operated. The program aims to enable scientists to send instruments to distant worlds without decades of development or prohibitive costs. By creating a sustainable model for interplanetary exploration, we are transforming space science from an occasional event into a continuous process of discovery that accelerates knowledge, broadens participation, and inspires the next generation of explorers. 

About the Role:

The storage platform is one of the foundations for accelerating scientific discovery: science instruments write to it, onboard AI reads from it, and the communications subsystems downlink the data on it to Earth.   

You will define the storage architecture and build it yourself. This is not a role where someone else hands you a design and you implement it, and it's not a role where you write architecture documents and hand them to someone else to build. You will make the foundational architectural decisions (redundancy topology, replication strategy, failure domain boundaries, consistency guarantees, write-lifecycle management), build and test prototypes on commodity hardware, and then build the low-level systems code that makes those decisions real: storage drivers, filesystem integration, and fault recovery systems that survive radiation upsets across the full mission lifetime. You'll carry the design from proof-of-concept on commodity hardware through integration on flight hardware, validating every architectural assumption with fault injection testing along the way. 

• Own the redundancy and replication architecture across multiple NAS units on two independent hardware strings, defining the consistency model for cross-string replication, the precise bound on acceptable data loss during a radiation-induced crash, and the storage platform's contractual guarantees in every degraded state: drive level, NAS unit, or full string failure. Codify this as the failure mode matrix that drives every implementation decision downstream 
• Select the filesystem and design the pool architecture, confirming or revising the current ZFS baseline and owning the final configuration. Validate through quantitative reliability modeling that balance upset probability, rebuild risk, write endurance, and usable capacity over the full mission
• Define the write-endurance budget for a multi-year operational lifetime, allocating write capacity across continuous science ingest, continuous data reduction, periodic bulk reanalysis by onboard AI, and archival snapshots to produce data retention policies that retain key science data through end of mission
• Design the interface contracts between the storage platform and the science instrument, compute, and communication subsystems, defining what the storage platform guarantees, what it doesn't, and what happens when a consumer violates the contract while the platform is already in a degraded state 
• Build the storage fault detection and recovery path at the hardware boundary (e.g., kernel driver, block layer, or firmware level) to take a radiation-induced upset from initial detection through filesystem re-integration and ensure transient failures never become data loss 
• Build automated fault recovery that handles every scenario in the failure mode matrix, validated through sustained fault injection campaigns on the hardware-in-the-loop testbed to confirm the architecture performs as specified under real failure conditions. 

About You:

• Demonstrated ability to make and defend architectural tradeoffs in writing: design documents, RFCs, or equivalents that other engineers built against
• 5+ years experience designing software systems for high reliability over long operational lifetimes: defining redundancy topology, failure domain boundaries, and degraded-mode behavior
• Track record of reasoning about failure modes before they occur: identifying what breaks, defining impact radius, and designing recovery paths at the system level, not just the component level
• Experience working at or near the storage system boundary in kernel, driver, firmware, storage infrastructure, or equivalent developments where you had to reason about hardware behavior and failure modes
• Experience with storage systems that maintain data integrity under faults (copy-on-write filesystems, log-structured storage, RAID architectures, or replication systems)

Nice to haves but not required:  

• Familiarity with distributed storage replication models: synchronous vs. async, quorum systems, chain replication, and opinions about when each is appropriate
• Experience designing storage or data systems that must remain available and consistent across independent failure domains
• Experience defining interface contracts between storage platforms and upstream consumers — databases, data pipelines, application frameworks
• Depth in one or more of: filesystem internals, block layer and device management, storage protocol implementation, or fault-tolerant storage infrastructure
• Strong working knowledge of storage data structures and systems reasoning — Merkle trees, NVMe submission/completion queue ring buffers, hash tables, radix trees
• Hands-on experience at the driver/hardware boundary: DMA coherency, MMIO semantics, PCIe enumeration, and cache behavior
• Experience testing storage systems under fault injection: PCIe/NVMe resets, error storms, low-level tracing (ftrace/perf/bpftrace), and crash dump analysis (kdump/vmcore)

About the Team: 

The Interplanetary Sciences Program was established to expand access to scientific exploration across our solar system. Its mission is to make planetary research faster, more affordable, and more capable than ever before by rethinking how science missions are designed, built, and operated. The program aims to enable scientists to send instruments to distant worlds without decades of development or prohibitive costs. By creating a sustainable model for interplanetary exploration, we are transforming space science from an occasional event into a continuous process of discovery that accelerates knowledge, broadens participation, and inspires the next generation of explorers.

About the Role:

As a Senior Flight Software Engineer within the Interplanetary Sciences Program at Relativity Space, you will take ownership of the design, development, and deployment of flight-critical software that governs how our spacecraft behaves and operates from concept through flight. 

You will be responsible for building robust, reliable embedded software that enables autonomous deep-space missions and real-time spacecraft control. This role requires an engineer who thrives on full-system ownership, moves fluidly between architecture and implementation, and brings rigorous engineering discipline to every phase of development from requirements capture to operational flight support. 

Essential Duties and Responsibilities: 

• Design, implement, and test flight software for spacecraft command, control, and autonomy across all mission phases
• Own full lifecycle software development: requirements capture, architecture, design, implementation, integration, test, and flight operations support
• Collaborate with avionics, GNC, propulsion, and mission operations teams to ensure seamless integration between software and spacecraft hardware
• Develop and execute verification and validation (V&V) processes to ensure flight safety, reliability, and mission success
• Support on-vehicle and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing, debugging, and mission simulations

About You:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical field
• 5+ years of experience developing, testing, and delivering embedded or real-time flight software
• Strong proficiency in C++ and solid understanding of memory management, concurrency, and embedded systems design 
• Experience with RTOS or Linux-based embedded development, software integration, and system-level testing 
• Proven ability to scope open-ended problems, execute autonomously, and deliver high-quality, flight-ready software 
• Ability to work effectively in a collaborative, fast-paced team environment, demonstrating adaptability and problem-solving skills 

Nice to haves but not required:  

• Experience developing software for spaceflight, launch vehicles, or planetary spacecraft 
• Familiarity with deep-space communication protocols and autonomy frameworks 
• Experience with Python or Rust for tooling, testing, or simulation support 
• Background in hardware-in-the-loop testing, embedded networking, or fault-tolerant system design 
• Knowledge of NASA or other aerospace software development and verification standards, applied in a modern new-space context 

About the Team: 

The Interplanetary Sciences Program was established to expand access to scientific exploration across our solar system. Its mission is to make planetary research faster, more affordable, and more capable than ever before by rethinking how science missions are designed, built, and operated. The program aims to enable scientists to send instruments to distant worlds without decades of development or prohibitive costs. By creating a sustainable model for interplanetary exploration, we are transforming space science from an occasional event into a continuous process of discovery that accelerates knowledge, broadens participation, and inspires the next generation of explorers. 

About the Role:

As a Senior Avionics Hardware Engineer within the Interplanetary Program at Relativity Space, you will take ownership of the design, development, and delivery of spacecraft avionics systems from concept through flight. You will collaborate with multidisciplinary teams to create reliable, high-performance avionics that enable deep-space exploration.

This position requires a highly motivated engineer who thrives in a fast-paced environment and can execute with autonomy. You will help define the foundation of Relativity’s future interplanetary avionics architecture while setting the technical standards for future team growth. Essential Duties and Responsibilities: 

• Develop complete avionics systems, including architecture, design, integration, and verification, from initial concept through flight-qualified hardware
• Collaborate with propulsion, guidance and control, thermal and software teams to ensure seamless integration and performance of avionics systems 
• Implement robust design and test processes that ensure reliability and safety for deep-space missions
• Lead the technical execution of avionics hardware builds, including PCB design, harnessing, embedded systems, and environmental qualification
• Coordinate with suppliers and internal stakeholders to manage component selection, testing, and delivery schedules
• Maintain accurate design documentation, test plans, and reports, demonstrating strong communication and organizational skills

About You:

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical field 
• 5+ years of experience designing, developing, and delivering avionics or electronics for aerospace systems or similarly complex environments 
• Demonstrated ability to take a design from concept through production with minimal supervision 
• Hands-on experience with schematic capture, PCB layout, embedded software interfaces, and system-level testing 
• Proven track record of working cross-functionally and communicating technical information clearly to diverse audiences 
• Ability to work effectively in a collaborative, fast-paced team environment, demonstrating adaptability and problem-solving skills 

Nice to haves but not required:  

• Direct technical experience in Mars missions is a plus 
• Experience with NASA aerospace systems engineering practices in an applied / new-space manner is a plus 
• Experience with deep-space or high-radiation avionics systems
• Background in spaceflight hardware environmental testing and qualification

About the Team: 

The Interplanetary Sciences Program was established to expand access to scientific exploration across our solar system. Its mission is to make planetary research faster, more affordable, and more capable than ever before by rethinking how science missions are designed, built, and operated. The program aims to enable scientists to send instruments to distant worlds without decades of development or prohibitive costs. By creating a sustainable model for interplanetary exploration, we are transforming space science from an occasional event into a continuous process of discovery that accelerates knowledge, broadens participation, and inspires the next generation of explorers.

About the Role:

As a Staff Avionics Mechanical Engineer, you will own the design, development, and delivery of all mechanical hardware supporting our next-generation space science avionics platforms. This includes enclosures, mounting structures, thermal accommodations, and interfaces to spacecraft systems. You will be responsible for ensuring the delivered Avionics can survive launch and space environments, and for solving complex thermal and structural challenges in tight, mass-efficient packaging.

This is a hands-on role for a self-driven engineer who thrives in a fast-paced, prototype-heavy environment. You’ll work from first principles to rapidly iterate on designs, perform analysis and testing, and lead the delivery of flight-ready avionics mechanical systems.  

About You:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related field
• 6+ years of experience in mechanical design, packaging, or thermal management for aerospace or ruggedized electronic systems
• Proven ability to deliver mechanical systems from concept through qualification and flight
• Proficiency with CAD (SolidWorks, NX, or equivalent) and analysis tools for structural and thermal performance
• Hands-on experience building, testing, and debugging hardware in a lab environment
• Strong communication skills and comfort working cross-functionally in a fast-paced, rapidly iterating team environment

Nice to haves but not required:  

• Familiarity with NASA or other spaceflight structural verification standards, environmental testing and qualification
• Experience designing mechanical systems for spaceflight avionics or payloads
• Experience with high-density electronics cooling (conduction, heat pipes, cold plates)
• Knowledge of materials and processes for vacuum and radiation environments

About the Team: 

The Interplanetary Sciences Program was established to expand access to scientific exploration across our solar system. Its mission is to make planetary research faster, more affordable, and more capable than ever before by rethinking how science missions are designed, built, and operated. The program aims to enable scientists to send instruments to distant worlds without decades of development or prohibitive costs. By creating a sustainable model for interplanetary exploration, we are transforming space science from an occasional event into a continuous process of discovery that accelerates knowledge, broadens participation, and inspires the next generation of explorers.

About the Role:

We are seeking an operations responsible engineer to lead the planning, design, and execution of spacecraft operations for the Interplanetary Program's first mission. This role carries end-to-end ownership of how the spacecraft is operated — from defining the operations architecture and working directly with multiple science and instrument teams to executing operations that maximize science data collection within real-world spacecraft constraints. Automating spacecraft operations to increase spacecraft capability and efficiency is also a key goal.

This is a senior, highly technical, high-ownership role on a lean team in a fast-moving commercial environment. We are looking for someone who is energized by the challenge of building an operations system that can run a complex, multi-instrument science mission millions of kilometers away and finds deep satisfaction in maximizing the science returned by the mission.

About You

• Bachelor's degree in planetary science, aerospace engineering, electrical engineering, computer science, or a related technical discipline
• 5+ years of experience in planetary missions, with demonstrated progression into increasing ownership
• Experience with scripting (e.g., Python) for data analysis or operational tasks
• Proficiency working in Linux/Unix environments
• Ability to reason through cross-subsystem interactions and their operational implications, make decisions with incomplete information and under time pressure
• Excellent communication skills across technical disciplines: engineering, science, software

Nice to haves but not required

• Experience with deep-space mission operations, including surface or orbital science campaigns
• Experience designing onboard autonomy, automated scheduling systems, or ground-based automation frameworks for flight operations

During critical mission phases including launch, commissioning, cruise maneuvers and early operations this position will require shift work and on-call availability. Schedule flexibility will be needed as operational needs evolve. Occasional travel (<10%) to partner institutions and mission integration sites may be required.

Hiring Range and Leveling

Staff Engineer: 169,000 - 207,000
Principal Engineer: 208,000 - 254,000

Leveling and Compensation will be finalized after the interview process, based on an evaluation of job-related knowledge and skills, education, and experience.

About the Team: 

The Interplanetary Sciences Program was established to expand access to scientific exploration across our solar system. Its mission is to make planetary research faster, more affordable, and more capable than ever before by rethinking how science missions are designed, built, and operated. The program aims to enable scientists to send instruments to distant worlds without decades of development or prohibitive costs. By creating a sustainable model for interplanetary exploration, we are transforming space science from an occasional event into a continuous process of discovery that accelerates knowledge, broadens participation, and inspires the next generation of explorers.

About the Role:

As a Senior Structures Engineer within the Interplanetary Sciences Program at Relativity Space, you will own the design, development, analysis, build, and verification of primary and secondary spacecraft structures, from concept through flight. You will be directly responsible for delivering flight-ready hardware that meets mission performance, reliability, and cost objectives. 

This position requires a highly motivated, hands-on engineer who thrives in ambiguity, can execute with autonomy, and is eager to take on end-to-end ownership, from early architecture and trade studies to prototype testing to final flight qualification. 

Essential Duties and Responsibilities: 

• Lead the design, analysis, and development of spacecraft structures from concept through flight
• Perform structural and dynamic analysis (FEA, hand calcs, margins, etc.) to validate designs across all mission phases 
• Produce engineering drawings with required specifications for manufacturing 
• Collaborate with all subsystems to ensure structural integrity and system-level integration. 
• Manage fabrication and assembly of structural components, including supplier coordination, material procurement, and flight hardware acceptance testing
• Design and execute environmental testing, load testing, and flight verification campaigns 

About You:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related technical field
• 5+ years of experience designing, analyzing, and delivering aerospace primary or secondary structures
• Demonstrated ability to take structural systems from blank-sheet concept through qualification and flight
• Proficiency in CAD and structural analysis tools  
• Hands-on experience with metallic structural design, GD&T, drawing creation, integration, and testing
• Strong communication skills and demonstrated success working cross-functionally in fast-paced environments

Nice to haves but not required:  

• Direct technical experience with interplanetary spacecraft design 
• Experience designing avionics enclosures 
• Familiarity with NASA or other spaceflight structural design and verification standards 
• Experience with spaceflight hardware environmental testing and qualification

About the Team: 

The Interplanetary Sciences Program was established to expand access to scientific exploration across our solar system. Its mission is to make planetary research faster, more affordable, and more capable than ever before by rethinking how science missions are designed, built, and operated. The program aims to enable scientists to send instruments to distant worlds without decades of development or prohibitive costs. By creating a sustainable model for interplanetary exploration, we are transforming space science from an occasional event into a continuous process of discovery that accelerates knowledge, broadens participation, and inspires the next generation of explorers.

About the Role:

As a Senior Thermal Engineer within the Interplanetary Sciences Program at Relativity Space, you will own the development and application of the spacecraft thermal model that directly guides the design, qualification, and operation of an interplanetary spacecraft. You will define the thermal architecture from first principles, translate mission environments and operational concepts into hardware requirements, and serve as the thermal technical authority across the vehicle lifecycle. This role spans early architecture and trade studies through test correlation, flight qualification, and mission operations, and requires strong technical judgment, analytical skills, autonomy, and systems-level thinking. 

Essential Duties and Responsibilities: 

• Develop, maintain, and mature integrated spacecraft thermal models at the vehicle, subsystem, and component levels
• Define thermal architectures and requirements and iterate hardware designs in collaboration with cross-disciplinary engineering teams
• Generate flight temperature predictions, margins, and off-nominal analyses, and communicate actionable guidance to the broader engineering team
• Ensure spacecraft payloads remains within operating and survival limits across all mission phases using robust passive and active thermal control strategies
• Correlate thermal models to component, subsystem, and vehicle-level test and/or flight data

About You:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a closely related field
  
• 5+ years of experience developing and applying thermal models for spacecraft or flight hardware
• Proficiency with spacecraft thermal analysis tools such as Thermal Desktop, ANSYS, or other software
• Experience anchoring thermal models to test and/or flight data and using results to drive design decisions
• Strong understanding of lumped-parameter (0D/1D) thermal networks and appropriate use of higher-fidelity methods
• Effective technical communicator with demonstrated success working cross-functionally in fast-paced environments

Nice to haves but not required:  

• Familiarity with spaceflight thermal margin, qualification, and verification standards (e.g. SMC-S-016)
• Experience planning or executing spacecraft environmental testing, including TVAC
• Experience across a full spacecraft lifecycle, from concept development through on-orbit operations
• Prior experience supporting flight thermal predictions or mission operations

About the Team: 

The Interplanetary Sciences Program was established to expand access to scientific exploration across our solar system. Its mission is to make planetary research faster, more affordable, and more capable than ever before by rethinking how science missions are designed, built, and operated. The program aims to enable scientists to send instruments to distant worlds without decades of development or prohibitive costs. By creating a sustainable model for interplanetary exploration, we are transforming space science from an occasional event into a continuous process of discovery that accelerates knowledge, broadens participation, and inspires the next generation of explorers.

About the Role:

As a Staff Optical Communications Engineer within the Interplanetary Sciences Program, you will own the end-to-end architecture, design, development, and delivery of a deep-space optical communications terminal. You will be responsible for translating mission needs into system performance requirements, developing architectures, and driving implementation through in-house design or external partnerships.

This role offers the opportunity to define and execute one of the most critical technologies enabling next-generation interplanetary missions. You will operate in a fast-paced, iterative environment, where rapid prototyping, early testing, and continuous learning are key to success. You’ll lead hands-on development campaigns to evaluate key technologies, derisk interfaces, and validate performance before full system integration.

You’ll work across internal and external teams to turn concepts into hardware, balancing agility and rigor as you move quickly from analysis to prototypes to flight-ready systems. Ultimately, you will lead the effort to deliver a robust, high-performance optical communications capability that enables breakthrough science across the solar system.

About You:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Optical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related technical field
• 7+ years of experience in laser communications, optical systems engineering, or spacecraft communications system development
• Proven ability to take complex technical systems from concept through qualification, integration, and operational deployment
• Hands-on proficiency in electromechanical prototyping, including integration of optics, electronics, and mechanical subsystems such as gimbals, pointing mechanisms, and precision mounts
• Deep understanding of optical communications subsystems, including pointing, acquisition, and tracking (PAT); modems; and photonic hardware
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to synthesize technical details and drive decision-making across engineering and program teams

Nice to haves but not required:  

• Experience with spaceflight hardware environmental testing and qualification
• Familiarity with NASA or commercial spacecraft systems engineering processes in an applied / New-Space manner is a plus
• Experience with deep-space or high-radiation avionics systems

About the Team: 

The Interplanetary Sciences Program was established to expand access to scientific exploration across our solar system. Its mission is to make planetary research faster, more affordable, and more capable than ever before by rethinking how science missions are designed, built, and operated. The program aims to enable scientists to send instruments to distant worlds without decades of development or prohibitive costs. By creating a sustainable model for interplanetary exploration, we are transforming space science from an occasional event into a continuous process of discovery that accelerates knowledge, broadens participation, and inspires the next generation of explorers.

About the Role:

We are seeking a driven science payload manager to lead the delivery, integration, and operations support for a science instrument suite. This is a highly technical role for a leader who combines deep technical and scientific competency, is confident in making risk-based decisions, and has a sense of personal ownership over the success of the instrument from build phase through on-orbit operations.

In this role you will serve as the responsible engineer for working with our partners to ensure the delivered instruments meet or exceed the desired science capability, and proceed smoothly and efficiently through environmental testing, spacecraft integration, commissioning, and in-space operations. This role requires you to understand the science and the engineering, manage risk proactively, make hard decisions under uncertainty, own the outcomes, communicate clearly to multiple stakeholders, and care deeply about the science results. You will need to understand the engineering systems and be an advocate for how they should be designed to support and enable collecting exceptional science on this and future missions. You will operate as part of a fast-moving, lean, multi-disciplinary team driven by mission success.

About You

• Master's degree in planetary science, engineering, physics, or a related technical discipline
• 3+ years experience in science research
• 3+ years experience working on a spacecraft payload through multiple phases (e.g., some combination of formulation, build, testing, integration, on-spacecraft testing, commissioning, operations)
• Relentless curiosity and a desire to understand and optimize systems
• Familiarity with Earth and planetary science missions and the unique constraints on instruments (power, mass, thermal, data rate, radiation)
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills

Nice to haves but not required

• Experience with planetary science instruments

This position may require occasional travel to partner institutions, test facilities, and mission integration sites (<10% time). During critical mission phases including launch, commissioning, and early operations this position will require shift work and on-call availability. 

Hiring Range and Leveling

Senior Engineer: 124,500 - 170,500
Staff Engineer: 150,000 - 207,000

Leveling and Compensation will be finalized after the interview process, based on an evaluation of job-related knowledge and skills, education, and experience.

About the Team: 

The Interplanetary Sciences Program was established to expand access to scientific exploration across our solar system. Its mission is to make planetary research faster, more affordable, and more capable than ever before by rethinking how science missions are designed, built, and operated. The program aims to enable scientists to send instruments to distant worlds without decades of development or prohibitive costs. By creating a sustainable model for interplanetary exploration, we are transforming space science from an occasional event into a continuous process of discovery that accelerates knowledge, broadens participation, and inspires the next generation of explorers.

About the Role:

As the Avionics Systems Lead Engineer within the Interplanetary Program, you will own revolutionizing the next generation of in-space compute and storage capability by leveraging the latest terrestrial technologies and challenging the status quo of how high-capability compute and storage are done in the space sector.

You will be responsible for delivering fully functional space-ready compute units to the flight spacecraft as well as setting up ground-based hardware twins for hardware in the loop and terrestrial based compute capability. You will be working closely with the science team to maximize capability by balancing the compute (CPU, GPU, TPU, etc..), memory, storage needs with the technical constraints of the flight spacecraft (power, thermal, EMI, mechanical, etc…). This role will also work closely in conjunction with the software team to bring up the core software infrastructure both on the spacecraft and on the ground side, and iterating with the software team to ensure the full compute system operates as intended in all environments.

This role will be a high responsibility, high autonomy, and high accountability role within a fast-paced, iterative environment, where rapid prototyping, early testing, and continuous learning are key to success. You’ll lead hands-on development campaigns to evaluate key technologies, derisk interfaces, and validate performance before full system integration. You’ll also work across internal and external teams to turn concepts into hardware, balancing agility and rigor as you move quickly from analysis to prototypes to flight-ready systems.

About You:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Physics, or a related technical field
• 7+ years designing and delivering digital, compute-centric electronic systems
• Proven experience leading design and delivery of complex electrical systems, including RF and compute-heavy projects
• Hands-on work with challenging thermal and electromechanical environments
• Strong grasp of systems engineering, interface management, and risk management principles for complex programs
• Excellent technical communication, problem-solving, and cross-disciplinary collaboration skills

Nice to haves but not required:  

• Direct architecture or EE design experience with non-volatile storage, mobile compute, and/or server class computing is a plus
• Experience with compute and storage survivability in space and radiation environments is a plus
  
  

Hiring Range and Leveling:

Senior Engineer: $166,500 - $203,500 USD
Staff Engineer: $197,000 - $241,000 USD

Leveling and compensation will be finalized after the interview process, based on an evaluation of job-related knowledge and skills, education, and experience.

About the Team: 

The Interplanetary Sciences Program was established to expand access to scientific exploration across our solar system. Its mission is to make planetary research faster, more affordable, and more capable than ever before by rethinking how science missions are designed, built, and operated. The program aims to enable scientists to send instruments to distant worlds without decades of development or prohibitive costs. By creating a sustainable model for interplanetary exploration, we are transforming space science from an occasional event into a continuous process of discovery that accelerates knowledge, broadens participation, and inspires the next generation of explorers.

About the Role:

As a Staff Thermal Engineer within the Interplanetary Sciences Program at Relativity Space, you will own the development and application of the spacecraft thermal model that directly guides the design, qualification, and operation of an interplanetary spacecraft. You will define the thermal architecture from first principles, translate mission environments and operational concepts into hardware requirements, and serve as the thermal technical authority across the vehicle lifecycle. This role spans early architecture and trade studies through test correlation, flight qualification, and mission operations, and requires strong technical judgment, analytical skills, autonomy, and systems-level thinking. 

Essential Duties and Responsibilities: 

• Develop, maintain, and mature integrated spacecraft thermal models at the vehicle, subsystem, and component levels
• Define thermal architectures and requirements and iterate hardware designs in collaboration with cross-disciplinary engineering teams
• Generate flight temperature predictions, margins, and off-nominal analyses, and communicate actionable guidance to the broader engineering team
• Ensure spacecraft payloads remains within operating and survival limits across all mission phases using robust passive and active thermal control strategies
• Correlate thermal models to component, subsystem, and vehicle-level test and/or flight data

About You:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a closely related field
  
• 6+ years of experience developing and applying thermal models for spacecraft or flight hardware
• Proficiency with spacecraft thermal analysis tools such as Thermal Desktop, ANSYS, or other software
• Experience anchoring thermal models to test and/or flight data and using results to drive design decisions
• Strong understanding of lumped-parameter (0D/1D) thermal networks and appropriate use of higher-fidelity methods
• Effective technical communicator with demonstrated success working cross-functionally in fast-paced environments

Nice to haves but not required:  

• Familiarity with spaceflight thermal margin, qualification, and verification standards (e.g. SMC-S-016)
• Experience planning or executing spacecraft environmental testing, including TVAC
• Experience across a full spacecraft lifecycle, from concept development through on-orbit operations
• Prior experience supporting flight thermal predictions or mission operations

About the Team: 

The Interplanetary Sciences Program was established to expand access to scientific exploration across our solar system. Its mission is to make planetary research faster, more affordable, and more capable than ever before by rethinking how science missions are designed, built, and operated. The program aims to enable scientists to send instruments to distant worlds without decades of development or prohibitive costs. By creating a sustainable model for interplanetary exploration, we are transforming space science from an occasional event into a continuous process of discovery that accelerates knowledge, broadens participation, and inspires the next generation of explorers.

About the Role:

As a Senior Optical Communications Engineer within the Interplanetary Sciences Program, you will own the end-to-end architecture, design, development, and delivery of a deep-space optical communications terminal. You will be responsible for translating mission needs into system performance requirements, developing architectures, and driving implementation through in-house design or external partnerships.

This role offers the opportunity to define and execute one of the most critical technologies enabling next-generation interplanetary missions. You will operate in a fast-paced, iterative environment, where rapid prototyping, early testing, and continuous learning are key to success. You’ll lead hands-on development campaigns to evaluate key technologies, derisk interfaces, and validate performance before full system integration.

You’ll work across internal and external teams to turn concepts into hardware, balancing agility and rigor as you move quickly from analysis to prototypes to flight-ready systems. Ultimately, you will lead the effort to deliver a robust, high-performance optical communications capability that enables breakthrough science across the solar system.

About You:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Optical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related technical field
• 5+ years of experience in laser communications, optical systems engineering, or spacecraft communications system development
• Proven ability to take complex technical systems from concept through qualification, integration, and operational deployment
• Hands-on proficiency in electromechanical prototyping, including integration of optics, electronics, and mechanical subsystems such as gimbals, pointing mechanisms, and precision mounts
• Deep understanding of optical communications subsystems, including pointing, acquisition, and tracking (PAT); modems; and photonic hardware
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to synthesize technical details and drive decision-making across engineering and program teams

Nice to haves but not required:  

• Experience with spaceflight hardware environmental testing and qualification
• Familiarity with NASA or commercial spacecraft systems engineering processes in an applied / New-Space manner is a plus
• Experience with deep-space or high-radiation avionics systems

About the Team: 

The Interplanetary Sciences Program was established to expand access to scientific exploration across our solar system. Its mission is to make planetary research faster, more affordable, and more capable than ever before by rethinking how science missions are designed, built, and operated. The program aims to enable scientists to send instruments to distant worlds without decades of development or prohibitive costs. By creating a sustainable model for interplanetary exploration, we are transforming space science from an occasional event into a continuous process of discovery that accelerates knowledge, broadens participation, and inspires the next generation of explorers.

About the Role:

As a Staff Structures Engineer within the Interplanetary Sciences Program at Relativity Space, you will own the design, development, analysis, build, and verification of primary and secondary spacecraft structures, from concept through flight. You will be directly responsible for delivering flight-ready hardware that meets mission performance, reliability, and cost objectives. 

This position requires a highly motivated, hands-on engineer who thrives in ambiguity, can execute with autonomy, and is eager to take on end-to-end ownership, from early architecture and trade studies to prototype testing to final flight qualification. 

Essential Duties and Responsibilities: 

• Lead the design, analysis, and development of spacecraft structures from concept through flight
• Perform structural and dynamic analysis (FEA, hand calcs, margins, etc.) to validate designs across all mission phases 
• Produce engineering drawings with required specifications for manufacturing 
• Collaborate with all subsystems to ensure structural integrity and system-level integration. 
• Manage fabrication and assembly of structural components, including supplier coordination, material procurement, and flight hardware acceptance testing
• Design and execute environmental testing, load testing, and flight verification campaigns 

About You:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related technical field
• 6+ years of experience designing, analyzing, and delivering aerospace primary or secondary structures
• Demonstrated ability to take structural systems from blank-sheet concept through qualification and flight
• Proficiency in CAD and structural analysis tools  
• Hands-on experience with metallic structural design, GD&T, drawing creation, integration, and testing
• Strong communication skills and demonstrated success working cross-functionally in fast-paced environments

Nice to haves but not required:  

• Direct technical experience with interplanetary spacecraft design 
• Experience designing avionics enclosures 
• Familiarity with NASA or other spaceflight structural design and verification standards 
• Experience with spaceflight hardware environmental testing and qualification

About the Team: 

The Interplanetary Sciences Program was established to expand access to scientific exploration across our solar system. Its mission is to make planetary research faster, more affordable, and more capable than ever before by rethinking how science missions are designed, built, and operated. The program aims to enable scientists to send instruments to distant worlds without decades of development or prohibitive costs. By creating a sustainable model for interplanetary exploration, we are transforming space science from an occasional event into a continuous process of discovery that accelerates knowledge, broadens participation, and inspires the next generation of explorers. 

About the Role:

As a Staff Avionics Hardware Engineer within the Interplanetary Program at Relativity Space, you will take ownership of the design, development, and delivery of spacecraft avionics systems from concept through flight. You will collaborate with multidisciplinary teams to create reliable, high-performance avionics that enable deep-space exploration.

This position requires a highly motivated engineer who thrives in a fast-paced environment and can execute with autonomy. You will help define the foundation of Relativity’s future interplanetary avionics architecture while setting the technical standards for future team growth. Essential Duties and Responsibilities: 

• Develop complete avionics systems, including architecture, design, integration, and verification, from initial concept through flight-qualified hardware
• Collaborate with propulsion, guidance and control, thermal and software teams to ensure seamless integration and performance of avionics systems 
• Implement robust design and test processes that ensure reliability and safety for deep-space missions
• Lead the technical execution of avionics hardware builds, including PCB design, harnessing, embedded systems, and environmental qualification
• Coordinate with suppliers and internal stakeholders to manage component selection, testing, and delivery schedules
• Maintain accurate design documentation, test plans, and reports, demonstrating strong communication and organizational skills

About You:

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical field 
• 6+ years of experience designing, developing, and delivering avionics or electronics for aerospace systems or similarly complex environments 
• Demonstrated ability to take a design from concept through production with minimal supervision 
• Hands-on experience with schematic capture, PCB layout, embedded software interfaces, and system-level testing 
• Proven track record of working cross-functionally and communicating technical information clearly to diverse audiences 
• Ability to work effectively in a collaborative, fast-paced team environment, demonstrating adaptability and problem-solving skills 

Nice to haves but not required:  

• Direct technical experience in Mars missions is a plus 
• Experience with NASA aerospace systems engineering practices in an applied / new-space manner is a plus 
• Experience with deep-space or high-radiation avionics systems
• Background in spaceflight hardware environmental testing and qualification

About the Team:

The Interplanetary Program was established to expand access to scientific exploration across our solar system. Its mission is to make planetary research faster, more affordable, and more capable than ever before by rethinking how science missions are designed, built, and operated. The program aims to enable scientists to send instruments to distant worlds without decades of development or prohibitive costs. By creating a sustainable model for interplanetary exploration, we are transforming space science from an occasional event into a continuous process of discovery that accelerates knowledge, broadens participation, and inspires the next generation of explorers.

About the Role:

As an RF Engineer on Relativity’s Interplanetary Program, you will own the architecture, design, development, testing, and operation of next-generation high-reliability RF systems that enable deep-space communication, navigation, and science operations. You will work hands-on across the full lifecycle, from concept and link budgets, to working with ground stations (i.e. DSN, KSAT, etc.) through hardware bring-up, environmental qualification, integrated testing, and flight readiness. This role partners tightly with avionics, optical comms, and spacecraft REs to ensure our RF subsystem integrates cleanly into the overall spacecraft bus. You will be responsible for solving engineering challenges that push the boundaries of RF technologies: designing for extreme distances measuring in AUs, low-SNR environments, radiation effects, and highly constrained mass/power budgets. This is a highly technical, hardware-first role in a scrappy, hands-on environment and team where iteration speed, analytical rigor, and end-to-end ownership of the problem space will be critical to the success of the mission.

About You:

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Physics, or a related field
• 5+ years of experience in RF communication system architecture, analysis, and/or component engineering
• Experience with 3 or more of the following:
  • RF architecture & link budgets for challenging environments
  • Selection, design, and/or integration of RF systems including transmitters, receivers, LNAs, PAs, frequency sources, converters, and front-end architecture.
  • Selection and/or design of RF passive components such as filters, diplexers, couplers, and waveguide components
  • Antenna design, analysis, and modeling tools
  • Hands-on testing with RF lab equipment such as spectrum analyzers, VNAs, SDRs, power meters and data recorders
  • Hands-on integrated testing with ground stations and/or integrated spacecraft RF systems to flow live telemetry and commanding
• Experience communicating deeply technical topics with individuals from different disciplines

Nice to haves but not required:

• Experience with space environments (radiation effects, thermal extremes, vacuum operation, component derating)
• Prior work with deep-space spacecraft comms system design & architecture
• Prior work with deep-space ground station networks
• Experience with high-gain antennas, phased arrays, or gimbaled antenna systems
• Experience designing or validating RF hardware for flight qualification (TVAC, vibe, EMI/EMC)

About the Team: 

The Interplanetary Sciences Program was established to expand access to scientific exploration across our solar system. Its mission is to make planetary research faster, more affordable, and more capable than ever before by rethinking how science missions are designed, built, and operated. The program aims to enable scientists to send instruments to distant worlds without decades of development or prohibitive costs. By creating a sustainable model for interplanetary exploration, we are transforming space science from an occasional event into a continuous process of discovery that accelerates knowledge, broadens participation, and inspires the next generation of explorers.

About the Role:

As a Senior Avionics Mechanical Engineer, you will own the design, development, and delivery of all mechanical hardware supporting our next-generation space science avionics platforms. This includes enclosures, mounting structures, thermal accommodations, and interfaces to spacecraft systems. You will be responsible for ensuring the delivered Avionics can survive launch and space environments, and for solving complex thermal and structural challenges in tight, mass-efficient packaging.

This is a hands-on role for a self-driven engineer who thrives in a fast-paced, prototype-heavy environment. You’ll work from first principles to rapidly iterate on designs, perform analysis and testing, and lead the delivery of flight-ready avionics mechanical systems.  

About You:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related field
• 5+ years of experience in mechanical design, packaging, or thermal management for aerospace or ruggedized electronic systems
• Proven ability to deliver mechanical systems from concept through qualification and flight
• Proficiency with CAD (SolidWorks, NX, or equivalent) and analysis tools for structural and thermal performance
• Hands-on experience building, testing, and debugging hardware in a lab environment
• Strong communication skills and comfort working cross-functionally in a fast-paced, rapidly iterating team environment

Nice to haves but not required:  

• Familiarity with NASA or other spaceflight structural verification standards, environmental testing and qualification
• Experience designing mechanical systems for spaceflight avionics or payloads
• Experience with high-density electronics cooling (conduction, heat pipes, cold plates)
• Knowledge of materials and processes for vacuum and radiation environments

About the Team: 

The Interplanetary Sciences Program was established to expand access to scientific exploration across our solar system. Its mission is to make planetary research faster, more affordable, and more capable than ever before by rethinking how science missions are designed, built, and operated. The program aims to enable scientists to send instruments to distant worlds without decades of development or prohibitive costs. By creating a sustainable model for interplanetary exploration, we are transforming space science from an occasional event into a continuous process of discovery that accelerates knowledge, broadens participation, and inspires the next generation of explorers.

About the Role:

As a Spacecraft Responsible Engineer within the Interplanetary Sciences Program at Relativity Space, you will own the end-to-end definition, integration, and delivery of the spacecraft bus and its interaction with mission payloads. You will serve as the technical and programmatic focal point ensuring that spacecraft-level requirements, interfaces, and performance budgets (power, mass, thermal, comm, etc.) are properly defined, tracked, and met throughout the mission lifecycle.

You’ll collaborate across internal teams and with external spacecraft bus providers to ensure mission success, from design and procurement through integration, test, launch, and operations. This position blends systems engineering, vendor management, and hands-on mission execution, offering a high degree of ownership and impact.

About You:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, Systems Engineering, or a related technical discipline
• 7+ years of experience in spacecraft or satellite systems engineering, integration, or mission design
• Proven ability to manage complex systems multiple vendors and customers
• Strong understanding of spacecraft subsystems (power, thermal, comms, ADCS, propulsion, etc.) and their interdependencies
• Experience leading cross-functional teams through integration and test, launch campaigns, or mission operations
• Excellent communication, negotiation, and leadership skills with the ability to interface across technical and programmatic boundaries

Nice to haves but not required:  

• Experience with end-to-end mission development, including payload-to-spacecraft integration
• Familiarity with NASA or commercial spacecraft systems engineering processes in an applied / New-Space manner is a plus
• Experience supporting launch and early operations of spacecraft missions
• Prior work with deep-space or interplanetary spacecraft systems

About the Team: 

The Interplanetary Sciences Program was established to expand access to scientific exploration across our solar system. Its mission is to make planetary research faster, more affordable, and more capable than ever before by rethinking how science missions are designed, built, and operated. The program aims to enable scientists to send instruments to distant worlds without decades of development or prohibitive costs. By creating a sustainable model for interplanetary exploration, we are transforming space science from an occasional event into a continuous process of discovery that accelerates knowledge, broadens participation, and inspires the next generation of explorers.

About the Role:

As the Lead Engineer for the Communications Payload within the Interplanetary Sciences Program, you will own the architecture, design, development, testing, and delivery of a complex system that delivers next generation communication and compute capability.

You will be responsible for creating an architecture that meets the functional capability needs while closing all other technical constraints (structural, thermal, power, EMI, etc…). You will be working closely with and technically leading a small team of subject matter experts and responsible engineers on communication systems, high-capability compute, power, and thermal to deliver a fully working system in support of an upcoming science & exploration mission.

This role will be a high responsibility, high autonomy, and high accountability role within a fast-paced, iterative environment, where rapid prototyping, early testing, and continuous learning are key to success. You’ll lead hands-on development campaigns to evaluate key technologies, derisk interfaces, and validate performance before full system integration. You’ll also work across internal and external teams to turn concepts into hardware, balancing agility and rigor as you move quickly from analysis to prototypes to flight-ready systems.

About You:

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Physics or a related technical field
• 10+ years of experience in design and delivery of complex electrical systems, ideally with direct hands-on leadership in RF and/or compute heavy projects
• Prior experience in full lifecycle of architecture through delivery of a complex multi-disciplinary system
• Core technical expertise in architecture or detailed design of electrical systems
• Familiarity with core principles of systems engineering and interface management for complex problems
• Familiarity with core principles of risk management for complex problems
• Excellent technical communication and problem-solving skills

Nice to haves but not required:  

• Experience with RF-based terrestrial or deep space communication system design, including link budgets, ground station compatibility, radio/antenna design, and final integration & testing is a plus
• Experience with terrestrial compute and storage systems is a plus
• Experience with compute and storage survivability in space and radiation environments is a plus
• Experience with NASA aerospace systems engineering practices in an applied / new-space manner is a plus