Senior Computational Design 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:

Relativity Space pioneered large-scale additive manufacturing with our Terran 1 rocket, the largest 3D-printed object to fly. Now a distinct business unit within Relativity, Horizon Manufacturing Technologies is advancing next-generation manufacturing for aerospace and beyond. The team operates at the frontier of manufacturing innovation, where creativity meets capability. This is an environment where cutting-edge R&D is put into production, industrializing advanced manufacturing capabilities to solve customer problems. You’ll work alongside welders, robotics engineers, data scientists, and systems engineers at the intersection of hardware and software, creating an end-to-end additive manufacturing platform that serves a wide variety of applications. From exploring new materials to unlocking faster print speeds, to designing complex, organic geometries that can’t be built any other way, it’s high-impact work that sets the foundation for the future of advanced manufacturing

The Robotics Team at Relativity Space is responsible for building and refining the hardware that powers our autonomous systems. From advanced perception and robotics for manufacturing and additive processes to specialized robots that support development and deployment, our R&D Software engineers work in close collaboration with hardware and automation to develop cutting edge technologies that push the boundaries of space exploration and industrial manufacturing. As a key member of the team, you’ll bring your software expertise to revolutionize the way robotics cooperate and additively manufacture here on earth and off planet.

About the Role:

As a Senior Computational Design Engineer, you will develop strategies, algorithms, and workflows for generating, analyzing, and processing complex geometries intended for Wire-Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) using our in-house robotic path-planning software. You will work alongside robotics engineers, weld engineers, and simulation engineers to develop the process for translating complex design geometries into various mesh structures suitable for analysis and production through our internally developed pipeline. Your core responsibilities will include:

• Developing meshing algorithms for generating, evaluating, and simulating the printing of complex novel geometries

• Working closely with simulation engineers and weld engineers to improve workflows between design CAD, weld simulation, and printed metal results

• Defining and implementing rules and best practices for various 2D and 3D mesh generation techniques including shells and volumetric meshing on solids

About You:

You are a highly skilled computational designer or engineer with an interest in novel digital fabrication methods. You are experienced with advanced mesh generation and have a deep understanding of various geometric topology best practices. You understand the basic principles of additive manufacturing with multi-axis robotic systems however you operate primarily in a virtual environment that is agnostic to its physical counterpart.

• BS in either Computer Science, Architecture, Computational Design, Computational Fluid Dynamics or relevant field

• 3+ years of experience developing tools for generating computational geometry

• Demonstrated experience in using scripting language in a relevant context (Python, C#, C++)

• Experience solving complex geometric problems using implicit geometry

• Experience with version control systems and collaborative development environments

• Experience in developing closed loop systems using sensors to give feedback to simulation models

• Able to clearly articulate and communicate ideas, issues, and proposals effectively to a broad audience

Nice to haves but not required:

• MS in either Computer Science, Architecture, Computational Design, or 5+ years equivalent experience

• Direct experience with CAE/CAM software and workflows

• Highly proficient in Rhino 3D & Grasshopper

• Experience with path optimization for robotic manipulators

• Experience programming motion for industrial robot arms

• Experience with mesh typology construction and/or optimization

• Familiarity with design for additive manufacturing (DFAM)

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:
$157,000—$200,000 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].