Materials Characterization Technician II, Metallography

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 Materials and NDE (Non-Destructive Evaluation) team plays a central role in enabling Terran R to fly, re-fly, and scale: developing, characterizing, and inspecting materials and processes across all parts of the vehicle. From welding and additive manufacturing to advanced composites, the team works at the intersection of innovation and execution, balancing performance and reliability with cost, quality, and schedule. As we move toward first flight and beyond, the challenges become more exciting, offering opportunities to shape how we design and develop for re-use. With ownership across products, systems, and disciplines, engineers gain broad exposure and drive key decisions across design, manufacturing, and operations.

About the Role:

• Cut, mount, grind, polish, and etch metallic samples
• Operate optical microscopes and image analysis software
• Perform grain size, inclusion, case depth, coating thickness, and microstructure evaluations
• Conduct micro hardness testing
• Interpret metallographic results according to ASTM or customer specifications
• Maintain laboratory equipment and ensure calibration
• Document results and write accurate inspection reports

About You:

• Experience with metallographic/materialographic sample preparation, including sectioning, hot/cold mounting, manual/automated grinding & polishing, optical microscopy, and chemical/electrolytic etching
• Experience with hardness testing, including Rockwell hardness testing & microhardness (Knoop & Vickers) testing
• Experience handling corrosives (acids/bases) and conducting hazardous waste best practices
• Familiarity with aerospace alloy systems, including aluminum, nickel, titanium, copper, steel, etc.
• Well-organized and detail-oriented, able to juggle multiple projects at once in a fast-paced environment
• Effective & strong communicator and collaborator

Nice to haves, but not required:

• Experience with optical profilometry and/or density via Archimedes' principle
• Experience with mechanical testing, thermal testing, chemical testing, and/or powder analysis
• Familiarity with additive manufacturing technologies, specifically metal AM technologies including DED, L-PBF, WAAM, etc.
• Familiarity with common metals processing techniques, including forming, casting, welding, heat treating, coating, 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:

$25.80—$38.70 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.