{"schemaVersion":"jobsearcher.job.v1","id":"05aff8831d1dcea45db669a0","url":"https://jobsearcher.com/jobs/05aff8831d1dcea45db669a0","canonicalUrl":"https://jobsearcher.com/jobs/05aff8831d1dcea45db669a0","title":"Lead, Materials Characterization Engineer","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.\nJoining 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.\nAbout the Team:\nThe Materials and NDE (Non-Destructive Evaluation) team plays a central role in enabling Terran R to fly, re-fly, and scale: developing, characterizing, and inspecting materials and processes across all parts of the vehicle. From welding and additive manufacturing to advanced composites, the team works at the intersection of innovation and execution, balancing performance and reliability with cost, quality, and schedule. As we move toward first flight and beyond, the challenges become more exciting, offering opportunities to shape how we design and develop for re-use. With ownership across products, systems, and disciplines, engineers gain broad exposure and drive key decisions across design, manufacturing, and operations.\nAbout the Role:\nManage a team of materials characterization engineers, set priorities, provide mentorship and develop career growth paths.\nFoster a culture of safety, technical excellence, collaboration and continuous improvement.\nDirect the planning, execution and review of material property testing (machining, sample prep, mechanical testing, metallography, SEM, heat treatment, thermal/chemical).\nProvide technical guidance on test method development, data interpretation and root cause investigations for partner teams.\nEnsure test activities align with Terran-R program needs, aerospace standards and customer/mission requirements.\nPartner with M&P, design, manufacturing, quality and production teams to ensure timely and accurate data is delivered.\nCommunicate results and insights to engineering leadership to drive decision making for material selection and qualification.\nDefine roadmap for characterization capabilities to support future vehicle and propulsion systems.\nDevelop budget, staffing plans and resource strategies for the lab.\nRepresent the characterization function in design reviews, material down-selects and failure investigation.\nAbout You:\nBachelor's degree in Materials Science, Metallurgical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering or related field.\n8+ years of experience in materials characterization, with at least 3 years in a leadership or management role.\nStrong hands-on knowledge of core materials characterization techniques (machining/sample prep, mechanical testing, SEM, DSC/TGA, metallography, spectroscopy).\nDemonstrated experience leading teams, managing schedules and delivering results in a fast-paced environment.\nExcellent communication skills, with the ability to translate technical findings into actionable insights.\nNice to haves but not required:\nMasters or Ph.D in Materials Science or related discipline.\nPrior leadership experience in aerospace, defense or rocket/space industry labs.\nFamiliarity with materials (aluminum, stainless, Inconel, copper). and processes (additive manufacturing, welding, adhesives, polymers) used in propulsion and structural systems for aerospace applications.\nProven record of developing new test methods and advancing lab capabilities.\nExperience with quality systems, standards and compliance (ASTM, AS9100, AWS D17.1, NASA, ISO).\nWe 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.","company":"Relativity Space","rawCompany":"relativity space","city":"Long Beach","state":"CA","isRemote":false,"isActive":false,"createdAt":"2026-04-14T10:21:18.989Z","occupations":[{"code":"19-2032.00","title":"Materials Scientists","slug":"materials-scientists"},{"code":"17-2131.00","title":"Materials Engineers","slug":"materials-engineers"},{"code":"11-9121.00","title":"Natural Sciences Managers","slug":"natural-sciences-managers"}],"industries":[{"code":"541715","title":"Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Nanotechnology and Biotechnology)","slug":"research-and-development-in-the-physical-engineering-and-life-sciences-except-nanotechnology-and-biotechnology"},{"code":"927110","title":"Space Research and Technology","slug":"space-research-and-technology"},{"code":"336415","title":"Guided Missile and Space Vehicle Propulsion Unit and Propulsion Unit Parts Manufacturing","slug":"guided-missile-and-space-vehicle-propulsion-unit-and-propulsion-unit-parts-manufacturing"}],"jobPosting":{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"JobPosting","title":"Lead, Materials Characterization Engineer","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.\nJoining 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.\nAbout the Team:\nThe Materials and NDE (Non-Destructive Evaluation) team plays a central role in enabling Terran R to fly, re-fly, and scale: developing, characterizing, and inspecting materials and processes across all parts of the vehicle. From welding and additive manufacturing to advanced composites, the team works at the intersection of innovation and execution, balancing performance and reliability with cost, quality, and schedule. As we move toward first flight and beyond, the challenges become more exciting, offering opportunities to shape how we design and develop for re-use. With ownership across products, systems, and disciplines, engineers gain broad exposure and drive key decisions across design, manufacturing, and operations.\nAbout the Role:\nManage a team of materials characterization engineers, set priorities, provide mentorship and develop career growth paths.\nFoster a culture of safety, technical excellence, collaboration and continuous improvement.\nDirect the planning, execution and review of material property testing (machining, sample prep, mechanical testing, metallography, SEM, heat treatment, thermal/chemical).\nProvide technical guidance on test method development, data interpretation and root cause investigations for partner teams.\nEnsure test activities align with Terran-R program needs, aerospace standards and customer/mission requirements.\nPartner with M&P, design, manufacturing, quality and production teams to ensure timely and accurate data is delivered.\nCommunicate results and insights to engineering leadership to drive decision making for material selection and qualification.\nDefine roadmap for characterization capabilities to support future vehicle and propulsion systems.\nDevelop budget, staffing plans and resource strategies for the lab.\nRepresent the characterization function in design reviews, material down-selects and failure investigation.\nAbout You:\nBachelor's degree in Materials Science, Metallurgical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering or related field.\n8+ years of experience in materials characterization, with at least 3 years in a leadership or management role.\nStrong hands-on knowledge of core materials characterization techniques (machining/sample prep, mechanical testing, SEM, DSC/TGA, metallography, spectroscopy).\nDemonstrated experience leading teams, managing schedules and delivering results in a fast-paced environment.\nExcellent communication skills, with the ability to translate technical findings into actionable insights.\nNice to haves but not required:\nMasters or Ph.D in Materials Science or related discipline.\nPrior leadership experience in aerospace, defense or rocket/space industry labs.\nFamiliarity with materials (aluminum, stainless, Inconel, copper). and processes (additive manufacturing, welding, adhesives, polymers) used in propulsion and structural systems for aerospace applications.\nProven record of developing new test methods and advancing lab capabilities.\nExperience with quality systems, standards and compliance (ASTM, AS9100, AWS D17.1, NASA, ISO).\nWe 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.","datePosted":"2026-04-14T10:21:18.989Z","dateModified":"2026-04-14T10:21:18.989Z","hiringOrganization":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Relativity Space","sameAs":"https://jobsearcher.com"},"jobLocation":{"@type":"Place","address":{"@type":"PostalAddress","addressLocality":"Long Beach","addressRegion":"CA","addressCountry":"US"}},"identifier":{"@type":"PropertyValue","name":"JobSearcher","value":"05aff8831d1dcea45db669a0"},"url":"https://jobsearcher.com/jobs/05aff8831d1dcea45db669a0"}}