Lead Avionics System Engineer

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 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 the Lead Engineer for the Avionics System 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

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:
$176,000—$225,500 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 [email protected].