Manager, Manufacturing Quality and Materials

Long Beach, California, United States Aerospace Full-time $150k to $224k Posted Oct 7, 2026
Apply on Relativity Space (opens in a new tab) Sourced via boards.greenhouse.io · Posted 2026-10-07

About this role

Relativity Space is hiring a Manager, Manufacturing Quality and Materials, full-time, on-site in Long Beach, California, United States, in the Aerospace sector.

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 pioneered large-scale additive manufacturing with our Terran 1 rocket, the largest 3D-printed object to fly. Now a distinct business unit within Relativity, Horizon Manufacturing Technologies is advancing next-generation manufacturing for aerospace and beyond. The team operates at the frontier of manufacturing innovation, where creativity meets capability. This is an environment where cutting-edge R&D is put into production, industrializing advanced manufacturing capabilities to solve customer problems. As member of the Horizon’s Robotics Team, you’ll work alongside welders, data scientists, and material scientists, creating an end-to-end additive manufacturing platform that serves a wide variety of applications. From exploring new materials to unlocking faster print speeds, to designing complex, organic geometries that can’t be built any other way, it’s high-impact work that sets the foundation for the future of advanced manufacturing.

About the Role:

  • Lead a multidisciplinary team of Manufacturing, Quality and Materials & Process Engineers building a culture of technical ownership, systemic problem-solving and accountability for delivering high-quality, conforming products.
  • Ensure the team has the technical capability, clarity, tools and ownership necessary to make sound decisions and successfully execute against product and customer requirements.
  • Lead the development and implementation of robust, end-to-end manufacturing processes that translate customer and engineering requirements into repeatable workflows with appropriate process controls, documentation, inspection, and acceptance criteria.
  • Ensure manufacturing processes, material performance, and quality controls provide the technical confidence necessary to consistently deliver products that meet customer and quality requirements.
  • Partner across Program Management, Design Engineering, Operations, and other functions to ensure technical decisions support success, on-time product delivery

About You:

  • Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Materials Science, or a related technical field, with 7+ years experience in complex manufacturing environments.
  • Demonstrated experience leading and developing multidisciplinary engineering teams, with the ability to establish clear ownership, accountability, and technical direction.
  • Strong understanding of manufacturing process development, process control, process capability, qualification, and continuous improvement.
  • Experience translating engineering, customer, and quality requirements into robust, repeatable manufacturing processes that consistently produce conforming hardware.
  • Strong systems-thinking and problem-solving skills, with demonstrated ability to identify systemic issues, reduce process variation, and build scalable solutions rather than relying on reactive problem-solving.
  • Ability to lead cross-functionally across Manufacturing, Quality, Materials, Design, Operations, and Program teams to drive technical decisions and deliver results.

Nice to haves but not required:

  • Experience with additive manufacturing, welding, directed energy deposition, or other advanced manufacturing technologies.
  • Experience with metallic materials, material characterization, mechanical testing, metallurgy, or process qualification.
  • Experience developing manufacturing processes from early technology development through qualification and production.
  • Experience with statistical process control, process capability analysis, PFMEA, control plans, and other manufacturing risk-management methodologies.

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: $150,000 — $224,000 USD

Please note: Relativity Space does not accept unsolicited resumes, candidate profiles, or referrals from recruitment agencies or search firms. Any unsolicited submission - via email, our website, social media, or directly to an employee - will be deemed the property of Relativity Space, and no fee will be owed absent a current, fully executed agreement with Talent Acquisition that specifically authorizes submissions for the applicable role.

Description from Relativity Space's official posting. Always confirm details on the company careers page.

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About Relativity Space

Relativity Space

3D-printed rocket developer building Terran R reusable medium-lift launch vehicle. Long Beach, CA.

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About Larry Sherwood Jr.

Talent Acquisition Leader specializing in mobility, EV, and frontier tech. 1,000+ hires across roles ranging from production technicians to VPs, including 48 hires for the AFEELA U.S. launch at Sony Honda Mobility (98% offer acceptance, $1.5M+ agency savings). SHRM-CP certified. Build recruiting functions from scratch, no agencies.

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