Senior software engineer industrial automation

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

Relativity Space is on a mission to better connect humanity to space and the universe beyond our planet. With decades of experience scaling world-class technology organizations like Google, CEO Eric Schmidt is guiding Relativity into its next phase: advancing Terran R toward launch and building the foundation for long-term impact.

The Terrestrial Software team is building the foundation for an automated rocket factory and integrated launch platform. Their mission is to automate and streamline workflows across the entire lifecycle of Terran R, from raw material intake to launch operations and eventually manufacturing on Mars. Today, that means partnering directly with teams across design, materials, manufacturing, and test and launch to design, implement, and deploy end user enterprise-wide applications, industrial automation, data analytics infrastructure, and next-generation AI to solve real problems and accelerate progress. Long term, the team is laying the groundwork for a modular, scalable software platform that can power highly autonomous operations on Earth and beyond. This is a team for builders and thinkers who thrive on cross-functional impact and want to shape the digital backbone of our future in space.

About The Role

On the Industrial Automation Software team, you will play a key role in the software development life cycle from initial concept, trade studies, design, implementation, root cause analysis and production ready roll out.

• Follow Agile development practices and implement quality software that is continuously integrated and deployable.
• Solve complex problems using simple, elegant solutions. Your work will power software that operates factory systems, validates development hardware, tests engines, and launches rockets.
• Develop user interfaces that are used across the company from component testing, engine testing, launch control systems, and elsewhere.

About You:

• Bachelor's degree or higher in a related Engineering field (Computer, Software, Electrical, Aerospace) or Computer Science.
• 5+ years of experience in one of more of the following areas:
  • Designing and implementing low-level architectures optimized for real-time hardware control.
  • Developing responsive user interfaces and data backends to manage safety-critical systems.
  • Building comprehensive test and simulation environments
• Proficient in C/C++, Rust, or Go.
• Familiarity with continuous integration and agile methodologies in high-performance environments.

Nice to haves but not required:

• Experience with microservices architecture tailored for high-performance, distributed systems.
• Experience managing high-volume, low-latency data flows.
• Knowledge of synchronization primitives, memory management, and systems-level performance optimization.
• Demonstrated ability to develop and deploy safety-critical software with direct hardware interfaces.
• Experience debugging and shipping complex software products across extensive, multi-platform codebases.

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

$165,000-$211,000 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 [email protected].