Propulsion Responsible Engineer II, Combustion Devices

About the Team: 

The Propulsion team at Relativity is focused on developing and delivering highly performant and manufacturable engines for Terran R. Engineers are responsible for the entire lifecycle of their parts, from initial design through production to qualification and flight. The team fosters a culture of bottoms-up decision-making, free from technical gatekeeping, where ownership and accountability are key at all levels. But designing engines with a quarter million pounds of thrust is just the beginning. As the flight configuration enters qualification, the team is now exploring modifications for future engines, including thrust upgrades, new cycles, and design for mass production.

About the role:

As a Responsible Engineer in the Combustion Devices team, you'll have cradle-to-grave ownership of an ignition system. This is ownership that covers torch igniters, ignition initiation devices, ignition system fluids design, and integration into the main combustors.

In this role, you'll set igniter operating points, size feed circuits, own the thermal and structural analysis, release drawings, define instrumentation and sequencing for development testing, and run your own hot fires. You'll support the architecture trades for future engines and carry your system through its qualification campaign. This level of end-to-end ownership over combustion hardware is rare in the aerospace industry, where these responsibilities are typically distributed across multiple teams and organizations.

Ignition systems interface with injectors, chambers, GSE, and avionics, requiring coordination across those disciplines and direct accountability for hardware decisions throughout the product lifecycle.

Pyrotechnic ignition background and experience with solid motors, solid propellants, or initiators are relevant and highly welcomed.

About you:

• Bachelor's degree in a science or engineering field
• 2+ years of experience working in the development of propulsion components, combustion components, or energetic hardware
• Experience applying engineering fundamentals in fluids, thermodynamics, thermal, and structural analysis
• Working knowledge of fluid system sizing and metering, compressible and choked flow, cryogenic fluid flows, and transient behavior during valve sequencing
• Demonstrated ownership of hardware through design, build, and test

Nice to haves:

• Master's degree in a science or engineering field
• Torch igniter, small combustor, or igniter feed system design
• Combustion devices experience: injectors, preburners, gas generators, augmenters, or thrust chambers
• Solid propulsion background: motor and grain design, solid propellants, pyrotechnic initiators, or energetics handling
• Experience in a rocket engine development and/or test environment
• Transient fluid network modeling, CFD, or thermostructural FEA
• Valve or flow control component design
• Exposure to powder bed additive manufacturing and automation techniques
• Clear evidence of ownership from school or work experience