Lead, Build Reliability 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:

• Drive complex failure analysis using Fault Tree processes for critical manufacturing and field failures, ensuring corrective and preventive actions (CAPA) are validated and sustained to prevent recurrence.
• Integrate Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) and predictive modeling into early-stage designs to identify and mitigate risks before production begins.
• Partner with NPI (New Product Introduction), Supply Chain, and Operations to resolve reliability issues and influence supplier quality outcomes.
• Define and maintain reliability KPIs such as Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF), escapes to next operations, and first-pass yield, translating data into actionable insights for cross-functional stakeholders.
• Own qualification testing programs, including Accelerated Life Testing (ALT) and environmental stress screening, to validate product lifespan and reliability targets.
• Lead risk escalation and resolution efforts, applying disciplined problem-solving methodologies (e.g., 8D) to drive rapid recovery on quality or capacity issues.
• Provide technical direction and day-to-day guidance to other engineers, ensuring alignment on priorities and deliverables.

About You:

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering (Mechanical, Aerospace, Industrial, or a related technical field).
• 7+ years of experience in Build Reliability, Manufacturing Engineering, or a related discipline, ideally within aerospace or a high-reliability/safety-critical industry, with demonstrated ownership of complex, cross-functional programs.
• Proven ability to lead projects and programs end-to-end, including defining scope, coordinating across teams, and driving execution without direct authority over all contributors.
• Strong working knowledge of quality systems (AS9100/ISO 9001) and core quality tools (APQP, PPAP, FAIRs, PFMEA, Control Plans), with experience driving implementation and compliance.
• Demonstrated ability to build processes from the ground up and deploy them across diverse teams.

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—$176,000 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.