Moonshot Engineer

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 Team: Dark Matter Lab is a high-autonomy innovation lab built for rapid experimentation, deep-tech prototyping, and bold moonshot thinking. We're a small team of hands-on builders exploring the edges of what's possible, turning raw ideas into world-changing technologies that could reshape the future of aerospace and beyond. Here, there are no roadmaps handed down – only frontiers to navigate. We operate with speed, embrace ambiguity, and value learning through building. Whether we're developing new hardware, prototyping full-stack systems, or pursuing ideas with breakthrough potential, our work lives at the edge of what's next. You'll be part of a small, multidisciplinary team empowered to define your own projects, move fast, and bring ideas to life. Ideas that one day may advance space systems, autonomous factories, or entirely new industries. Dark Matter Lab lives within Relativity Space, a company building the next-generation commercial rocket. By incubating bold ideas and exploring novel applications of Relativity's core capabilities, Dark Matter Lab aims to create high-impact programs with long-term value for Relativity, the aerospace industry, and society at large. If you're driven by curiosity, motivated by impact, and excited to work where the rules haven't been written yet, Dark Matter Lab is where you belong. About the Role: As part of the 10-person founding team of Dark Matter Labs, you'll be empowered to identify, explore, analyze, prototype, and realize world-changing ideas in space. This role will allow you to bring your own passions for space as well as explore, find, and prove out new moonshots on the cutting edge of science and engineering. Moonshot Engineers will be wearing many different hats, from technical leadership, detailed design & analysis, prototype build & testing, vendor management & POs, and other responsibilities necessary to make moonshots a reality. This role will be expected to take ownership of a handful of moonshots and drive them all the way from an ambiguous "What if..." idea, organizing contributions from other lab members, proving the idea via prototype testing, and finally realizing the idea through design and production of a scaling product. Likewise, this role will also be contributing directly to a number of other moonshots through technology exploration, detailed analysis, part design, prototype build or testing, and other engineering efforts. About You: Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Physics, Mathematics, or a related field. 7+ years of experience in design and delivery of complex systems or products Passionate self-starter with a track record of charting a path through ambiguity, leading technical projects, organizing efforts & people, and managing timelines and expectations Deep technical expertise in one core discipline (i.e. Mechanical, Electrical, Software, etc.) but familiar & comfortable with a multitude of other disciplines Great communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively with many different other mindsets and perspectives and willingness to challenge and be challenged Hands-on design, build, and test experience with hardware and/or software required for prototyping – familiar with or willing to learn CAD, EE/PCB, harnessing, embedded SW, python, test hardware, etc... Nice to have but not required: Proven track record of delivering tangible hardware or product in highly open ended or ambiguous environments or product spaces Prior experience at hardware & software early phase technology exploration or innovation labs (i.e. GoogleX, Skunkworks, etc..) 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: $144,000 — $307,000 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.