Gnc Mission Design Engineer I

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 Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC) and Performance teams are responsible for defining and analyzing how Terran R flies, from liftoff to landing. The work combines a variety of disciplines such as advanced modeling, orbital mechanics, software development, and dynamic systems to optimize every phase of flight. You’ll develop flight algorithms, simulate trajectories, and model Terran R’s dynamic behavior across mission profiles. Whether you're early in your career or a seasoned expert, you’ll have the opportunity to own critical pieces of the system, influence design, and see your work fly. The department is part of the Integrated Performance team, uniting key disciplines to drive performance at every stage of the mission.
About the Role:

Support trajectory design and analysis for customer missions throughout mission lifecycle, including conceptual design, flight safety analysis, and day of launch operations
Develop and leverage software tooling for optimizing launch and orbital trajectories
Lead interdisciplinary design trade analyses to inform key decisions about the vehicle, the mission trajectories, or the mission ConOps
Define and maintain high-level vehicle and trajectory design requirements to inform the overall design process

About You:

Graduating in 2026 with undergraduate or graduate degree (BS/MS/PhD) in engineering or related discipline
Ability to work in a fast‑paced and intense start‑up environment
Ability to complete projects with ownership of end-to-end solutions with a high degree of independence
Experience with Python, MATLAB, Julia, or similar

Nice to haves but not required:

Prior experience working on GNC or trajectory design solutions in aerospace
Prior work in a startup or agile development environment
Strong physics and orbital mechanics background

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 moreTo see some of the benefits & perks we offer, please visit here.
Hiring Range: $119,000 — $150,700 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.
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