Counsel, Launch Operations

Company Overview:

At Relativity Space, we have two audacious goals: to build the next great commercial launch company with Terran R and to become America's leading force in additive manufacturing innovation. Both contribute to our long-term vision of creating humanity’s industrial base on Mars, paving the way for interplanetary life to expand the possibilities of the human experience. This journey begins right here on Earth – where we design, build, and fly rockets to deliver customer payloads to orbit. Terran R, our medium-to-heavy lift reusable rocket, fulfills the growing demand for launch capacity, thanks to our iterative approach that accelerates design, testing, and development while minimizing costs. While our groundbreaking research and development in 3D printing pushes the boundaries of large-scale additive manufacturing.

Your journey with us is more than just a job – it’s an opportunity to shape the future of aerospace technology, additive manufacturing, and the human experience alongside a community of passionate, creative individuals. Join us on this extraordinary journey, as we work together to transform our vision into reality.

About the Team:

Our legal team is small, nimble, and entrepreneurial: a startup within a startup. Our team is responsible for identifying and managing risks across the organization to ensure Relativity is adequately protected through its rapid growth. Our legal team manages intellectual property, contracts, and compliance, among other responsibilities. Unique to Relativity’s fast-paced startup environment, our team is given the opportunity to work cross functionally to support Relativity’s ambitious goals.

Relativity is looking for an experienced attorney to take primary responsibility for solving the company’s legal challenges related to the launch operations, including obtaining relevant launch licenses and ensuring compliance with U.S., foreign, and international laws applicable to launch service providers. There is a preference for Washington, D.C., though you may be located in any one of Relativity’s offices, including Long Beach, CA, Cape Canaveral, FL, or Stennis, MS. Fully remote options are not available.

About the Role:

• Work closely with engineering, launch operations, and government affairs to develop proactive plans to ensure compliance.
• Prepare and manage certain regulatory licenses and permits to enable Relativity’s launch manifest.
• Lead and support interactions with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the Department of Defense, as required to fulfill the other responsibilities of the role.
• Support range operations between Relativity and its government partners, particularly NASA and the United States Space Force.
• Manage various government partnership agreements with federal government agencies including NASA Space Act Agreements.
• Maintain strong cross-functional relationships with Engineering, Launch Operations, Environmental Health and Safety, Infrastructure, and Government Affairs teams to ensure compliance with federal regulations applicable to launch service providers.
• Develop new processes and tools to better streamline and enhance launch licensing and launch support compliance, to include leading company or industry efforts with federal/government partners.

About You:

• Law degree from an ABA-accredited law school and an active license to practice law.
• 3+ years of experience as a practicing attorney, whether with a large law firm or in-house.
• Experience working with U.S. federal regulatory regimes.
• Experience working directly for or interacting with federal government agencies.
• Demonstrated project management skills.
• Ability to travel as needed to support critical meetings with key stakeholders primarily in California, Mississippi, Florida, and Washington D.C.

Nice to haves but not required:

• Experience working with the Federal Aviation Administration, the U.S. Space Force, the U.S. Coast Guard, or other federal agencies.
• Experience working in or with the aerospace and/or the maritime industry.
• Demonstrated ability to work both collaboratively and independently in a fast-paced environment.

• Ability to communicate clearly, both orally and in writing, with engineers, attorneys, staff, and government agencies.

Relativity Space offers competitive salary and equity, a generous vacation policy, an annual L&D stipend and more!

Successful candidates must clear a background check administered by the US government to obtain clearance for on-site work at our government partner location in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

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.