Relativity Space at a glance
relativityspace.com- Founded 2015
- Employees 60
Source: Wikipedia
Relativity Space
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 Interplanetary Sciences Program was established to expand access to scientific exploration across our solar system. Its mission is to make planetary research faster, more affordable, and more capable than ever before by rethinking how science missions are designed, built, and operated. The program aims to enable scientists to send instruments to distant worlds without decades of development or prohibitive costs. By creating a sustainable model for interplanetary exploration, we are transforming space science from an occasional event into a continuous process of discovery that accelerates knowledge, broadens participation, and inspires the next generation of explorers.
About the Role:
As a Senior Optical Communications Engineer within the Interplanetary Sciences Program, you will own the end-to-end architecture, design, development, and delivery of a deep-space optical communications terminal. You will be responsible for translating mission needs into system performance requirements, developing architectures, and driving implementation through in-house design or external partnerships.
This role offers the opportunity to define and execute one of the most critical technologies enabling next-generation interplanetary missions. You will operate in a fast-paced, iterative environment, where rapid prototyping, early testing, and continuous learning are key to success. You’ll lead hands-on development campaigns to evaluate key technologies, derisk interfaces, and validate performance before full system integration.
You’ll work across internal and external teams to turn concepts into hardware, balancing agility and rigor as you move quickly from analysis to prototypes to flight-ready systems. Ultimately, you will lead the effort to deliver a robust, high-performance optical communications capability that enables breakthrough science across the solar system.
About You:
- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Optical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related technical field
- 5+ years of experience in laser communications, optical systems engineering, or spacecraft communications system development
- Proven ability to take complex technical systems from concept through qualification, integration, and operational deployment
- Hands-on proficiency in electromechanical prototyping, including integration of optics, electronics, and mechanical subsystems such as gimbals, pointing mechanisms, and precision mounts
- Deep understanding of optical communications subsystems, including pointing, acquisition, and tracking (PAT); modems; and photonic hardware
- Excellent communication skills with the ability to synthesize technical details and drive decision-making across engineering and program teams
Nice to haves but not required:
- Experience with spaceflight hardware environmental testing and qualification
- Familiarity with NASA or commercial spacecraft systems engineering processes in an applied / New-Space manner is a plus
- Experience with deep-space or high-radiation avionics systems
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.
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.
To apply for this job please visit boards.greenhouse.io.
Explore Relativity Space online
What people say about Relativity Space
- Reality doesn’t exist until it is measured, quantum experiment finds
- Travel planning software: The most common bad startup idea (2012)
- Ask HN: What is HN reading?
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Recent news
- Space Force adds Relativity, Impulse Space to national security launch program - SpaceNews
- Impulse Space and Relativity Space Join the Field for Space Force NSSL Phase 3, Lane 1 - Via Satellite
- Relativity Space Hires NASA To Build And Operate Mars Science Payload - Aviation Week
- Space Force adds two startups to small, medium launch pool - Breaking Defense
- NASA Announces Public-Private Partnership to Advance Mars Science - NASA (.gov)
Aggregated from public discussions and news; opinions are the authors’ own.
Working in Long Beach, California
Weather right now in Long Beach, California: checking… · Local time:
Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 450,469 as of 2025. A charter city, Long Beach is the 7th-most populous city in California, the 2nd-most populous city in Los Angeles County, and the largest city in California that is not a county seat.
California is a U.S. state in the Western United States that lies on the Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, and Nevada and Arizona to the east; it also shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California to the south. With over 39 million residents across an area of 163,696 square miles (423,970 km2), it is the largest U.S. state by population and third-largest by
Source: Wikipedia (state)
Market context
- Similar listings in Long Beach, California 1
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Accommodations: if you need a workplace accommodation to apply for or perform this job, see ADA.gov or EEOC.gov for guidance on your rights and how to request one.
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