Senior Software Development Engineer in Test

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 Vehicle Software team develops the safety-critical software that runs on Terran R. The work spans a distributed, real-time control system operating under extreme conditions like Mach 5 atmospheric flight, with a deployment pace that allows you to see your code run on rocket engines daily. The team is building new system architecture from the ground up and just as importantly, testing, releasing, and deploying it. You don’t need an aerospace background: what matters is experience with high-reliability software for complex systems. This is a rare opportunity to shape the foundation of Terran R’s software stack while directly influencing performance, reliability, and flight success.

TRADE (Test, Release, and Deployment Engineering) is a core engineering team within Vehicle Software at Relativity Space. As we scale from development to full-scale vehicle integration and launch operations, TRADE ensures our software is rigorously tested, confidently released, and successfully deployed across all environments from simulation to the launch pad.

About the Role:

As a Senior SDET on the Vehicle Software TRADE (Test, Release and Deployment Engineering) team, you will own the automated validation lifecycle of integrated vehicle software. You will design and lead end-to-end testing frameworks that ensure each software release is reliable, traceable, and ready for use across production, integration labs, and launch environments.

This role is deeply cross-functional and requires strong technical judgment, attention to detail, and proactive problem-solving. You will work with software, hardware, systems, and operations teams to define validation scope, align quality gates, and deliver releases that maintain readiness and consistency while adapting to evolving requirements, configuration changes, and fast-moving timelines.

You will:

• Own the architecture and implementation of scalable automation frameworks (primarily using Python and/or Rust) to validate full-stack vehicle software including FSW, ESW, and configuration artifacts across software-in-the-loop (SITL), hardware-in-the-loop (HITL), and integrated system environments, leveraging reusable libraries, automation services, and structured validation interfaces

• Develop automated integration and end-to-end test suites that exercise real-time control flows, telemetry, mission sequences, and failure scenarios in both SITL and HITL setups

• Implement automated test cases and analyzers that benchmark performance, validate qualification metrics, and publish dashboards (e.g., Grafana) to improve traceability and data-driven decision making

• Drive continuous test execution through CI pipelines (BVT, integration, nightly, weekly) to deliver fast regression feedback and release confidence

• Lead system-level test execution during release cycles—prepare environments, execute scenarios, evaluate results, and maintain traceable artifacts

• Validate subsystem integrations prior to full-system execution, perform root-cause analysis during anomalies, and coordinate with development teams for resolution

• Present release readiness reviews by aggregating test results, metrics, quality gates, and risk assessments

• Mentor engineers on automation architecture, instrumentation strategies, and scalable test-design patterns

About You:

• 5+ years of experience in software development or test engineering, including 2+ years architecting automated test frameworks for integrated systems combining hardware, firmware, and software

• Proven ability to design and scale unit, integration, and system-level automation frameworks, with strong software skills in Python, Rust, or C++ for tooling, validation pipelines, and simulation workflows

• Excellent debugging skills, strong ownership, and attention to detail, with ability to operate in fast-paced, cross-functional environments

• Familiarity with CI/CD workflows, containerization (Docker), telemetry/log aggregation, and automated test pipelines

• Demonstrated ability to work effectively across software, hardware, and operations teams to align on delivery milestones and integration needs.

Nice to haves but not required:

• Experience in aerospace, robotics, safety-critical systems or embedded real-time applications

• Hands-on experience validating embedded, real-time, networking or hardware-integrated systems, including controller, sensors/actuators, communication buses, and timing-sensitive behaviors

• Familiarity with Conda, GitLab CI/CD, Grafana, version control practices, artifact repositories

• Experience working with hardware-in-the-loop (HITL), simulation environments, or large-scale system integration

• Strong analytical skills and experience supporting data reviews, root cause investigations, or release audits

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:
$142,000—$196,000 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].