
Production Manager, Structures Fabrication and Machining
Relativity Space · Long Beach, CA
- Level
- Manager
- Team
- Production
- Degree
- Required
- Experience asked
- 5+ years
- Industry
- Aerospace & defense
- Posted
- 30+ days ago
The role in 30 seconds
A management production role at Relativity Space (aerospace & defense) in Long Beach, CA. Structures Fabrication and Machining, you will lead technician team delivering large structures assemblies, ready for final assembly or circumferential welds.
- They ask for
- 5+ years · degree required
- Tools it names
- Lean, Automation, Machining, Welding, Assembly lines, MES
Read from the posting. The full description is below.
How this role compares
Against 63 other live production postings in California.
- Base pay
- Not listed in this posting
- Experience asked
- Typical (5+ years)
Typical $110k–$145k, from 22 postings that list pay.
Similar roles usually ask 5+ years.
Skills these teams ask for most
- ✓ New product launch 39%
- Root cause 33%
- Python 30%
- ✓ Lean 28%
- ✓ Automation 27%
- EHS / safety 20%
✓ = this posting asks for it too. % = share of similar postings that mention it.
Stands out: this posting asks for Welding, Assembly lines, which few similar roles mention. If you have it, lead with it.
At a glance
Pulled from the posting text. If it's not listed here, the posting didn't say.
How to get in at this plant
Five moves over a week or two. The first one takes ten minutes.
- 1
Pick 2–3 people on the Production team at Relativity Space
We found 3 people at this company and state: 2 on the team, 1 leaders. Engineers who joined in the last year or two reply the most. See them ↓
- 2
Send a short, curious note
One real question about their work. No favors yet. Each person gets a different note, written for this role.
Write to Brandon → (free) - 3
Turn a reply into a short call
Questions worth asking about this team:
- What does a normal week look like on your team?
- How did you land the job? What stood out in your interviews?
- 4
Apply with someone vouching for you
If the call went well, ask whether they’d pass your résumé to the hiring manager. Send your résumé link, apply that day, and let them know.
- 5
Bring proof to the interview
One page of before-and-after numbers from projects you led: scrap, OEE, cycle time, cost. Plant managers hire on results.
This plant: Relativity Space in Long Beach
61 other open roles at this site · 3 people we found on the production team.
- Manufacturing Engineer I, Stage Forming · Manufacturing
- Manufacturing Engineer I, Stage Machining · Manufacturing
- Senior Manufacturing Engineer, Stage Forming · Manufacturing · Senior
- Senior Manufacturing Engineer, Stage Machining · Manufacturing · Senior
- Friction Stir Welding Technician I, First Shift · Manufacturing · Technician
- Manufacturing Engineer II, Stage Forming · Manufacturing
Full description from Relativity SpaceAs posted on their careers site.ShowHide
About the Role
As the Production Manager, Structures Fabrication and Machining, you will lead technician team delivering large structures assemblies, ready for final assembly or circumferential welds. This scope spans multiple processes including machining, forming, friction stir welding, drill & trim, and assembly. Your reporting structure will include multiple supervisors (1st and 2nd shift) covering discrete work cells.
Nice to haves but not required
- ✓Bachelors Degree in Engineering
- ✓Previous experience leading leaders
- ✓Knowledge of Smartsheet, SQL, and Excel
- ✓Extensive Production scaling experience (i.e., hiring 10’s to 100’s over short time-frames)
- ✓Expert experience in PLM, ERP, and MES systems
- ✓Direct experience in NPI-to-Production environments
- ✓LEAN 6-sigma credentials or demonstrated experience
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.
Show full description ↓Show less ↑
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 Stage Manufacturing team turns design into reality, owning the build of Terran R’s primary structures. This isn’t about turning the same bolt every day; it’s about building the systems to build the rocket. Engineers and technicians work side by side, with deep collaboration and real-time feedback, to shape how we build better and faster. With a manifest and a launch date, it’s up to the team to deliver on Terran R: solving challenges in real time, optimizing for scale, and constantly improving processes. As the vehicle evolves, so will the factory, with opportunities to apply automation, machine learning, and advanced technologies. What we build here sets the blueprint for the future of scaled launch.
will include
- •Accountable for leading and managing a diversely skilled production organization across 2 shifts to build Terran-R
- •Ensure a culture of safety, quality, and excellence is communicated and upheld by driving quality metrics to continuously improve product output of the manufacturing team
- •Defining the strategy to transition team from low-volume development environment to high-volume production environment on short time-frame; responsible for communicating a clear, actionable plan to set team up for success
- •Standing up a scalable production program. Building the necessary tools, schedules, reports, and reviews to ensure a data-backed story on Terran-R’s hardware health is presented and understood by the cross-disciplinary team and leadership
- •Developing and mentoring production staff to meet team and company goals
About You
- •5+ years of experience in a technical or operations role, preferably Aerospace, automotive or similar
- •3+ years of experience formally leading or managing a Production team
- •Extensive experience developing scalable business processes
- •Highly collaborative, strong communication skills, and ability to navigate diverse backgrounds (engineering, technician, executive, etc.)
- •Relentless pursuit of production excellence—safety, quality, and schedule at forefront
- •Comfortable with constructive conflict and difficult conversations, so long as it moves the business forward
- •High degree of self-awareness and self-starting abilities; able to influence others in and outside of your organization
Hiring Range
$130,000 — $194,000 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.
