Staff Materials & Processes Engineer, Corrosion

Job DescriptionJob 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 & NDE Engineering team is responsible for the development, characterization, and inspection of materials across the Terran R launch vehicle. We specialize in rapid implementation of material systems through robust internal testing capabilities and first principles driven qualification approaches. We have recently made our first primary structure barrel, supported introduction of next powder additive alloys in the Aeon-R engine, and developed 100% in-cell NDE inspection capabilities for WAAM manufactured hardware.

About the Role:

• Serve as the company's solely accountable M&P engineer for corrosion control on Terran-R
• Define and implement the overarching Terran-R Corrosion Control Plan for expendable and reusable block manifests and hardware
• Guide and align interdisciplinary partners through corrosion control requirements and rationale
• Research, develop, and integrate novel corrosion control materials and processes
• Mentor engineers on corrosion control best practices and procedures
• Interface with:
  • Materials engineering to implement corrosion control across the vehicle
  • Laboratory staff to characterize materials and processes
  • Designers to identify pain points and drive M&P selection
  • Analysts to align M&P data with predictive analytical techniques
  • Manufacturing to control processes and improve operations
  • Integration to collect data and troubleshoot issues
  • Inspectors to develop standards and train personnel
  • Supply chain to specify vendor requirements and audit criteria
  • Leadership to elevate risks and overcome roadblocks

About You:

• Bachelor's degree in materials science or engineering, or related field
• 8+ years of experience relevant to the competencies listed below that demonstrate a strong foundation of materials science and engineering principles
• A commitment to accountability, collaboration, and execution
• A desire to establish and foster strong interdisciplinary relationships across the company
• An authentic, introspective, and inclusive mindset towards technical, interpersonal, and team growth and development

Nice to haves but not required:

• Experience in the corrosion control of coastal launch vehicles or similar naval aerospace products
• Hands-on experience conducting failure investigations, hardware inspections, and relevant laboratory techniques
• Knowledge of property-process-performance-structure relationships of M&P relevant to corrosion control, such as:
  • Primary and secondary metallic structures
  • Inhibitors, surface treatments, and coatings
• Familiarity with corrosion-relevant M&P engineering disciplines (e.g. fracture mechanics, life analysis, descriptive & inferential statistics) and communities (e.g. AMPP/NACE)

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:$161,000—$206,800 USD

We are an equal opportunity employer and value at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of , , , , , , , marital status, veteran status, or status.