Role Overview
Relativity is hiring a Staff Embedded Software Engineer. This is a full-time role in Long Beach, California. Part of Relativity's Embedded hiring, posted 3 weeks ago. Full responsibilities, required qualifications, and the apply link are listed in the description below.
Salary Context
Salary is not disclosed in this posting. Market median for Staff-level Embedded roles is $180k-$240k (based on 16 comparable listings). Many employers share specifics during the interview process or after an initial screen.
Resume Keywords to Include
Make sure these keywords appear in your resume to improve ATS scoring
Job description
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 Interplanetary Sciences Program was established to expand access to scientific exploration across our solar system. Its mission is to make planetary research faster, more affordable, and more capable than ever before by rethinking how science missions are designed, built, and operated. The program aims to enable scientists to send instruments to distant worlds without decades of development or prohibitive costs. By creating a sustainable model for interplanetary exploration, we are transforming space science from an occasional event into a continuous process of discovery that accelerates knowledge, broadens participation, and inspires the next generation of explorers.
About the Role:
- Own the application-level software on the optical terminal processor — thermal control loops, fast steering mirror control interface, and health monitoring — writing the higher-level software that sits on top of FPGA gateware and interfaces to the payload network
- Develop Linux device drivers and hardware abstraction layers for optical terminal components, including thermal sensors, actuators, and steering mirror interfaces, translating raw hardware behavior into clean software interfaces
- Build the software interfaces between all communication subsystems (Ka-band, UHF, optical) and the rest of the data center, including packet parsers, protocol adapters, and OSI layer 2–3 implementations that connect externally developed radios to the payload network
- Implement fault detection and recovery software for communication hardware, along with command, telemetry, and mode management software for each comms subsystem — because a bug in a packet parser or driver can mean a lost downlink pass and science data that sits on disk longer than planned
- Work at the system boundary where software meets real hardware, debugging integration issues across serial buses, Ethernet interfaces, and radio transceivers alongside electrical engineers and the FPGA gateware developer
About You:
- BS/MS in Computer Science or Electrical Engineering and 5+ years of relevant experience
- Strong systems programming skills in C, with experience writing software that talks directly to hardware — device drivers, register-level interfaces, or bus protocol implementations
- Experience with Linux device driver development and real-time or embedded software design
- Solid network programming skills: sockets, packet handling, and layer 2/3 protocol implementation
- Comfort implementing control loops in software and understanding enough digital communications to interface correctly with modem hardware, even if you're not designing the waveforms yourself
Nice to haves but not required:
- Experience with spacecraft communication subsystem software or radio interface development
- Familiarity with CCSDS packet structures and protocols
- Hands-on experience with serial and bus interfaces to radio hardware — SPI, I2C, UART, and Ethernet-based control planes
- Knowledge of optical communication terminal operation concepts or free-space optical link systems
- Experience with thermal control loop implementation and tuning
- Background in hardware abstraction layer design for systems with multiple hardware variants or evolving interfaces
- Comfort in a hardware lab: serial consoles, logic analyzers, and debugging signal integrity issues alongside the electronics team
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.
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.
About Relativity
Relativity
relativity.com
348 other open roles at Relativity on TryApplyNow.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I apply for the Staff Embedded Software Engineer position at Relativity?
Use the Apply button above to submit your application directly to Relativity. Most applications take less than 5 minutes if your resume and contact details are ready, and you'll be routed to the employer's official application system to finish.
Where is the Staff Embedded Software Engineer position at Relativity located?
This position is based in Long Beach, California. Relativity has not indicated remote or hybrid options for this role, so candidates should plan for on-site work.
What does a Staff Embedded Software Engineer at Relativity earn?
Relativity has not disclosed a salary range in this posting. Many employers share specifics later in the interview process; you can also ask during a recruiter screen if compensation transparency is important to you.
When was the Staff Embedded Software Engineer role at Relativity posted?
This role was posted on July 2, 2026 (21 days ago). It's still listed as actively hiring; we re-confirm openings against the source system multiple times per day and remove closed roles.
Similar Jobs
More Jobs at Relativity
View all →
AI-powered job search
Get every job scored to your resume
Upload your resume and get jobs ranked, your resume tailored, and employee contacts found automatically.
Get started freeNo credit card to start