Senior Battery Systems Engineer Verified today

About the Team

The Avionics team designs, builds, tests, and operates the hardware that connects and controls every major electrical system on Terran R. You will work closely with propulsion, guidance/navigation/control, fluids, and stage engineering to ensure seamless integration.

About the Role

You will join the team developing Terran R's high-voltage battery system and grow into technical ownership as a complete product. Early on, you will work with experienced battery engineers to learn the current design. Over time, you will take on more of the system's technical direction, serving as the link between battery's mechanical and electrical disciplines and the rest of the vehicle.

Architecture and Requirements

• Partner with vehicle and power-system architecture teams to define battery requirements from the top down: energy, power, voltage, thermal, mass/volume, and life requirements derived from mission profile, operational concepts, and power-system needs
• Own and maintain the battery specification as the single source of truth for battery requirements, interfaces, and verification criteria with full traceability
• Drive battery architecture and cell down-selection through documented trade studies covering requirement drivers, options, evaluation criteria, rationale, and recommendations in collaboration with battery mechanical, test, and battery-management-system engineers
• Define and manage interface control between the battery and the vehicle (electrical, mechanical, thermal, data)

Cross-Functional Definition

• Work with Flight Sciences, operational concepts, and Criteria teams to define battery environmental and loads requirements: launch and flight vibration/shock, thermal environments, thermal cycling, electromagnetic interference/compatibility, altitude/vacuum, and mission duty cycles
• Partner with avionics/electrical-engineering teams to define battery-management-system requirements and scope: cell monitoring, balancing, protection (overvoltage/undervoltage/overcurrent), contactor/heater control, state estimation, and fault management
• Coordinate with mechanical and vehicle-integration teams on packaging, mounting, thermal management, and installation interfaces
• Work with Criteria and structures teams to close structural, thermal, and safety margins

Safety and Verification

• Own battery safety architecture: thermal-runaway detection and propagation mitigation, venting/burst-disc strategy, physical cell protection, and hazard analysis
• Define verification and qualification strategy: qualification and acceptance test programs at cell and pack level, test-as-you-fly philosophy, and data systems that turn test results into rapid design feedback
• Lead FMEA/FTA, reliability analysis, and identification/mitigation of single points of failure

Program and Technical Leadership

• Carry technical program-management responsibility for the battery effort: schedule, risk, dependencies, and status; serve as the organized single point of communication for battery status across teams
• Represent the battery at vehicle design reviews (preliminary design review/critical design review level), safety review boards, and cross-functional forums
• Support supplier and cell-vendor engagement, including benchmarking, request for information/request for quotation evaluation, and technical down-selection
• Contribute to producibility/design for manufacturing and new product introduction as the design matures; lead structured root-cause and corrective-action for anomalies

About You

• Bachelor's degree in engineering (mechanical, electrical, aerospace, chemical, or related)
• 5 or more years of battery systems development experience across the product lifecycle (concept through design through qualification), including high-voltage lithium-ion packs
• Demonstrated ability to derive and own requirements top-down with rigorous trade studies and traceable specifications, not just execute a fixed design
• Working depth across the battery stack: cell selection/characterization, pack architecture, thermal management, battery-management-system scope, and safety/abuse behavior
• Strong understanding of battery safety, failure modes, and high-voltage system fundamentals
• Proven cross-functional leadership and clear technical communication in fast-paced development environments

Nice to Have

• Experience in aerospace, launch vehicle, automotive high-voltage, or another high-consequence environment-driven domain
• Familiarity with environmental qualification (vibration, shock, thermal-vacuum, electromagnetic interference/compatibility) and test-as-you-fly verification
• Functional safety or hazard analysis background (e.g., FMEA, FTA, ISO 26262 or aerospace equivalents)
• Experience with requirements and modeling tools (DOORS, Jama, Cameo/MBSE)
• Hands-on cell characterization and abuse/destructive test experience
• Familiarity with charging/ground support equipment and ground operations

Compensation

Hiring range: $148,000 to $222,000 USD. Compensation determined based on experience, qualifications, and job-related factors.

Relativity Space offers competitive salary and equity, generous paid time off and sick leave, parental leave, and an annual learning and development stipend.