Lead, Supplier Development Engineering

Job Description

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. 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 Reliability team at Relativity Space ensures quality is built into every stage of the Terran R design and production process, embedding reliability from the very beginning. The team works directly with design, manufacturing, test, and launch teams to stay close to the hardware, understand constraints, and proactively shape decisions. As the program moves from development into production and scaled operations, this is the time to establish the right processes, controls, and inspections without slowing progress. The team plays a key role in balancing risk, fostering a culture of ownership, and making sure speed never comes at the cost of reliability. Success means creating a quality system that scales with the Terran R program and Relativity as a whole.

About the Role:

• Lead the execution of supplier development strategy, ensuring supplier performance aligns with Terran R production, launch, and compliance requirements (AS9100/ISO 9001)
• Serve as the primary technical point of contact for assigned suppliers, resolving manufacturing and quality issues to protect production schedules and build cadence
• Drive supplier performance management by establishing and tracking key metrics and scorecards, including PPM, yield, and PPAP timing, to improve overall supplier capability
• Lead NPI efforts by selecting manufacturing methods, evaluating suppliers, and developing scalable production processes in partnership with Engineering and Supply Chain, including DFM reviews, PPAP/FAIR approvals, and APQP execution
• Manage supplier corrective actions, root cause investigations (e.g., 8D), and compliance verification against AS9100, ISO 9001, and NASA quality standards to drive sustained improvements across the supply base
• Own supplier risk escalation and resolution, applying disciplined problem-solving to ensure rapid recovery on quality or capacity issues
• Provide technical direction and day-to-day guidance to other engineers, aligning priorities and deliverables

About You:

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering (Mechanical, Aerospace, Industrial, or a related technical field)
• 8+ years of experience in Supplier Development, Supplier Quality, or Manufacturing Engineering, ideally within aerospace or a high-reliability/safety-critical industry
• Proven ability to lead cross-functional programs end-to-end, coordinating across Engineering, Manufacturing, and Supply Chain without direct authority over all contributors
• Strong technical knowledge of manufacturing processes for space- or safety-critical hardware, including forming, machining, and assembly of metals such as stainless and carbon steels
• Expert working knowledge of quality systems (AS9100/ISO 9001) and core quality tools (APQP, PPAP, FAIRs, PFMEA, Control Plans), with hands-on experience driving implementation and compliance
• Demonstrated ability to define processes from the ground up and deploy them across diverse teams
• Willingness to travel up to 50% of the work week when needed

Nice to haves but not required:   

• Master's degree in Engineering (Mechanical, Aerospace, Industrial, or a related technical field)
• Professional certification such as Six Sigma Black Belt, ASQ Certified Quality Engineer (CQE), or PMP
• Familiarity with high-volume inspection methods and data-driven acceptance criteria
• Experience with enterprise applications (PLM, ERP, MES) and proficiency in data analysis
• Comfortable operating in high ambiguity, setting direction where precedent or data is incomplete

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:

$128,000—$192,000 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.

If you need a reasonable accommodation, please contact us at View email address on ziprecruiter.com.

Please note: Relativity Space does not accept unsolicited resumes, candidate profiles, or referrals from recruitment agencies or search firms. Any unsolicited submission - via email, our website, social media, or directly to an employee - will be deemed the property of Relativity Space, and no fee will be owed absent a current, fully executed agreement with Talent Acquisition that specifically authorizes submissions for the applicable role.