Staff Build Reliability Engineer, Clean Line
Relativity Space· enterprise· Aerospace & Defense· Oct 20, 2026 · 7d ago
Long Beach, California, United States
In office
Full-time
Staff
$147K–$218K est.
8+ years exp
Job 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 Role
Serve as the company-wide technical authority for precision cleaning, fluid system cleanliness, contamination control, passivation, and associated special processes, establishing the standards and technical strategy necessary to ensure hardware quality and reliability from piece-part manufacturing through vehicle integration, testing, and launch.
Establish and own the special process control framework, including process qualification, equipment validation, statistical process control, inspection requirements, auditing, and governance to ensure consistent execution and compliance with hardware cleanliness requirements across all stages of production.
Lead the development, industrialization, and scaling of precision clean-line capabilities from early development through rate production, making critical decisions around process architecture, equipment selection, make-versus-buy strategy, factory integration, and production readiness.
Define company-wide engineering specifications, cleanliness acceptance criteria, inspection methods, and technician training and certification standards to ensure contamination control and hardware quality are maintained throughout manufacturing, assembly, integration, testing, and launch operations.
Drive resolution of complex cleanliness, contamination, and special-process challenges, leading root cause investigations, corrective actions, and technical risk reduction efforts across Design, Manufacturing, Integration, Test, Quality, and Production teams to prevent defects and protect flight hardware reliability.
Act as a senior technical leader across the organization, influencing engineering and manufacturing decisions, identifying and mitigating build reliability risks, and mentoring engineers and technicians to ensure consistent execution of cleanliness and quality standards throughout the vehicle lifecycle.
About You
Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering, Materials Science, Mechanical Engineering, or a related technical discipline, with 8+ years of progressive process engineering experience in aerospace, high-reliability manufacturing, or a similarly complex production environment.
5+ years of direct experience developing, owning, or scaling precision cleaning, fluid system cleaning, clean-line, contamination control, or comparable aerospace special processes.
Deep expertise in special process control, including process qualification, validation, contamination prevention, statistical process control, inspection methodology, process capability, and continuous improvement.
Demonstrated experience establishing and enforcing technical standards, cleanliness requirements, and quality controls across multiple stages of hardware manufacturing, assembly, integration, and testing.
Proven ability to independently resolve complex, cross-functional technical challenges, lead failure investigations, identify systemic quality risks, and implement corrective actions that improve hardware reliability and manufacturing consistency.
Strong technical leadership and communication skills, with a demonstrated ability to influence engineering and manufacturing decisions, establish accountability across teams, and challenge processes or decisions when necessary to protect hardware quality and mission success.
Nice to Haves
M.S. or Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering, Materials Science, or a related technical discipline.
Experience establishing precision cleaning, contamination control, or special-process capabilities for propulsion systems, fluid systems, or flight hardware.
Familiarity with IEST-STD-CC1246 or other aerospace cleanliness, contamination control, and quality standards.
Experience developing and implementing enterprise-wide special process governance, qualification, or certification programs.
Experience supporting hardware cleanliness and contamination control requirements from component manufacturing through vehicle assembly, integration, testing, and launch operations.
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: $143,000 — $215,000 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 accommodations@relativityspace.com .
Please note: Relativity Space does not accept unsolicited resumes, candidate profiles, or referrals from recruitment agencies or search firms. Any unsolicited submission - via email, our website, social media, or directly to an employee - will be deemed the property of Relativity Space, and no fee will be owed absent a current, fully executed agreement with Talent Acquisition that specifically authorizes submissions for the applicable role.
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Benefits
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Pto
Parental Leave