Test Engineer Intern

Company Overview:

At Relativity Space, we have two audacious goals: to build the next great commercial launch company with Terran R and to become America's leading force in additive manufacturing innovation. Both contribute to our long-term vision of creating humanity’s industrial base on Mars, paving the way for interplanetary life to expand the possibilities of the human experience. This journey begins right here on Earth – where we design, build, and fly rockets to deliver customer payloads to orbit. Terran R, our medium-to-heavy lift reusable rocket, fulfills the growing demand for launch capacity, thanks to our iterative approach that accelerates design, testing, and development while minimizing costs. While our groundbreaking research and development in 3D printing pushes the boundaries of large-scale additive manufacturing.

Your journey with us is more than just a job – it’s an opportunity to shape the future of aerospace technology, additive manufacturing, and the human experience alongside a community of passionate, creative individuals. Join us on this extraordinary journey, as we work together to transform our vision into reality.

About the Team:

The Factory Test team is responsible for hardware testing in our Long Beach facilities. We use our breadth of experience and collaborative engineering approach to support everything from very large structural tests to precise valve actuation. To that end, we design, build, and operate all test assets in Long Beach from initial concept to test execution. If you enjoy working on a multi-disciplinary team with a broad mandate and want to put hands on hardware, then this is the team for you. As a part of the Data and Control System (DACS) group, this role will focus on the electrical hardware and automation supporting test operations across our rocket factory.

What you’ll do:

[Hardware focus]

• Design advanced control and data acquisition systems for various test stands, including panel layouts, power and load analysis, fabrication drawings, and instrumentation lists
• Solve a wide range of technical challenges, across broad ranges of timeframe, complexity, cost, and long-term impact
• Support test operations and perform related improvements to existing test stands

[Software Focus]

• Create, modify, and optimize software that will be used to test and launch Terran R
• Gain hands on experience working with control hardware
• Support test operations and perform related improvements to existing test stands

Example projects:

• Design and build data acquisition cabinets and harnessing for a test stand.
• Select, integrate, and configure instrumentation on a test stand.
• Design custom PCBs for reading sensors, operating valves, or controlling actuators on various test stands.
• Checkout and tune control systems for hydraulic actuators that will test Terran R components.

Skills/Competencies we're looking for:

Candidates should have hardware or software skills, but are not required to have both.

• Current undergraduate or graduate student earning degree electrical, computer, software, aerospace, or mechanical engineering, computer science, or related field.
• Solid electrical fundamentals.
• Basic knowledge of common instrumentation, pressure transducers, thermocouples, RTD, flow meters, accelerometers, strain gauges, load cells.
• Basic knowledge of data acquisition hardware and control systems.
• Experience with software development processes including source control, bug tracking, and design documentation.
• Experience in C/C++ and/or Python.

We believe varied perspectives & backgrounds strengthen our team. Prior experience in aerospace is not required.

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.

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:

$31—$38 USD