Mission Operations Responsible Engineer (Science)

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 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.

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:
$208,000—$254,000 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 [email protected].