Senior Product Engineer (Mechanisms IPT Lead)

About the Team:  

The Vehicle Systems and Integrated Test team at Relativity Space is a small, dynamic group within the Vehicle Engineering organization, specializing in cross-functional vehicle development, designing for operability, defining Concepts of Operations, and determining vehicle verification activities. Our team is responsible for the integration of stages and vehicles, acting as the engineering focal point throughout the vehicle's lifecycle. We consistently manage both upstream and downstream impacts, excelling at solving complex, first-time challenges. 

We tackle tough integrated problems, coordinate planning, set the engineering definition for operations, and strike the right balance between performance, launch/build rate, and reliability. This involves determining requirements, verification events, tools, guidance, and processes, all with operability at the forefront. On this team, you'll collaborate with every function across the company to help design, build, test, fly, recover, and reuse Terran R. 

About the Role: 

In this role you will act as Integrated Product Team Lead for a variety of complex and highly cross-functional mechanism systems. As an IPT lead, you will interface with functional disciplines of the mechanism system to drive program execution and resolution of technical issues. IPT leads are responsible for identifying and decomposing requirements, optimizing verification events, and resolving risks across the entire life cycle of the mechanism system - inclusive of design, ground and flight operations, and reuse. As a project leader, IPT leads plan and coordinate resources required over the life of the product, assign responsibility for activities to team members, drive program execution and resolution of technical issues, identify corrective actions to improve team performance and future project execution. IPT leads are expected to take on a variety of unscripted, unexpected responsibilities to remove roadblocks for program execution. Examples could be identifying, procuring and installing sensors for development tests, writing test automation, designing test fixtures, authoring test plans and readiness reviews, heading root causes analysis, or determining risk mitigations paths. This role requires occasional travel to our test & launch sites and may additionally require shifted schedules or weekend work for critical milestones.

Successful candidates in this role will analyze decision paths and drive recommendations that balance the needs of all the functional teams. You will be responsible to identify gaps, future roadblocks, and balance priorities. High judgment, technical depth, strong leadership, low ego, and strategic influence are foundational elements for this role.

Job responsibilities include:

• Drive development tests and functional verification events of the system by determining test objectives, requirements, authoring test plans, and executing tests
• Identify risks and build mitigation plans that are achievable within the cost and schedule allowed by the program.
• Determine system build, test, and fly CONOPs and establish checkouts and success criteria
• Help responsible engineers decompose requirements to a meaningful level while keeping them as lean as possible
• Identify and resolve technical and logistical challenges across the lifecycle of the system
• Develop and maintain detailed design, development, integration and test schedules

About You:  

• Proven experience in manufacturing, assembly, and testing of complex mechanical systems
• Bachelor’s degree in engineering or related field, and 5+ years of relevant experience

Nice to haves but not required:  

• Experience delivering on ambitious schedules, even if unconventional & creative solutions are necessary to do so
• Problem-solving skills and the ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Excellent communication skills with demonstrated experience summarizing and communicating complex technical information to a wide audience
• Coordination experience within a multidisciplinary engineering project
• Demonstrated ability to lead by influence and collaborate with technical owners to establish a plan without crowding out their ownership