Fluids Analyst

Background

Cowboy Space Corporation is building the infrastructure to power and connect the orbital economy. Our modular, scalable satellites collect sunlight in Low Earth Orbit to enable multiple integrated applications: transmitting energy via infrared lasers (space-to-earth and space-to-space), powering on-orbit high-performance computing clusters (GPU/TPU), and providing secure, high bandwidth optical data transport.

Current energy and data systems rely on complex logistics and outdated infrastructure. Cowboy Space Corporation overcomes these challenges by enabling direct, on-demand, secure, and scalable energy distribution and data processing from space. This will revolutionize how we operate in orbit and on Earth, supporting the rapidly expanding space industrial base, ISAM (In-Space Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing) operations, remote regions, and military bases.

Baiju Bhatt founded Cowboy Space Corporation in 2024. Inspired by his father’s work with NASA Langley Research Center, Baiju earned his B.S. in Physics and M.S. in Mathematics at Stanford before co-founding Robinhood, now a public company that has helped over 20 million Americans access the financial system. Cowboy Space Corporation has raised ~$365 million from Index Ventures, Interlagos, Construct Ventures, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, NEA, and others.

This is an ambitious mission that demands extraordinary talent. Cowboy Space Corporation’s team has worked at places like SpaceX, Blue Origin, Stoke Space, Astranis and NASA, and is based in San Carlos, CA. If you're ready to solve complex technical challenges and help build the most important energy company in the world, we want to hear from you.

About the Role

As a Fluids Analyst, you will own fluids prediction for the team - the models, the analysis, and the data that back every fluid system decision we make.

You are accountable for the full lifecycle of that prediction: standing up early system models before hardware exists, sizing and trading architectures against pressure drop, flow capability, and thermal performance, then closing the loop by reducing test data and correlating it back into the models.

You will work closely with fluids design, propulsion, thermal, structures, and test operations, and your predictions will directly set or verify component sizing, test objectives, and flight limits. This is a hands-on analysis role for someone who wants to be in the test bay watching the data come in, not just running cases.

You’ll be expected to move quickly, iterate often, and take full ownership of the fluid models the team relies on.

Responsibilities

• Own the full lifecycle of fluids prediction and data for the team - from first-order sizing models through correlated, test-anchored models used for flight.
• Build and maintain 1D fluid network and transient system models of engine and vehicle fluid systems to predict pressure drop, flow capability, and thermal performance.
• Perform early-phase simulation and trade studies to inform architecture selection, line and orifice sizing, valve and regulator selection, and pressurization schedules before hardware is committed.
• Predict flow capability and pressure budgets across the system: line and fitting losses, flow distribution and manifold balance, cavitation and choked-flow margin, NPSH, and engine inlet conditions.
• Analyze transient behavior - water hammer, priming and chill-in, valve sequencing, blowdown and ullage collapse, tank pressurization and thermal stratification.
• Perform CFD analysis of valves, manifolds, and other internal-flow components to resolve loss coefficients, flow distribution, and local behavior that lumped models cannot capture.
• Perform thermal-fluid analysis including two-phase and cryogenic behavior, heat leak, insulation performance, and conjugate heat transfer in fluid components.
• Define the instrumentation and measurement requirements needed to validate your models - specify what gets measured, where, at what rate, and to what accuracy.
• Support component-level and system-level test campaigns: write analysis-driven test objectives and predictions and set red lines and expected values.
• Own reduction and analytics of fluids test data - build the data pipelines, automate processing across runs, quantify uncertainty, and turn raw channels into engineering quantities.
• Correlate models against test and flight data, quantify model error, and drive the updates that improve predictive accuracy over time.
• Establish and maintain the team's analysis methods, model libraries, fluid property data, and validation standards so results are repeatable and reviewable.
• Perform anomaly investigation and root cause analysis using test and flight data; reconstruct off-nominal events and recommend corrective action.
• Balance model fidelity against schedule - know when a hand calculation is sufficient and when the problem warrants CFD.
• Communicate analysis results and their uncertainty clearly to designers, test engineers, and leadership, and document methods, assumptions, and conclusions in review-ready form.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Chemical Engineering, or related field.
• 5+ years of experience performing fluid system analysis for flight vehicles, propulsion systems, or other high-performance hardware.
• Strong fundamentals in fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, and heat transfer, including compressible flow, two-phase flow, and transient system behavior.
• Experience building 1D fluid network or transient system models with tools such as Flownex, AFT (Fathom/Arrow/Impulse), EASY5, GFSSP, Simulink, or equivalent in-house codes.
• Hands-on experience with commercial or open-source CFD (ANSYS Fluent, Siemens STAR-CCM+, or OpenFOAM) applied to internal flow problems.
• Proficiency with Python (NumPy, pandas) or MATLAB for model development, data reduction, and automation of analysis workflows.
• Experience reducing and interpreting real test data, including correlating analytical predictions against measurements.
• Must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum.

Preferred Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience performing fluid system analysis for flight vehicles, propulsion systems, or other high-performance hardware.
• Direct experience with rocket engine, launch vehicle, or spacecraft propulsion fluid systems.
• Experience with cryogenic fluids (LOX, methane, hydrogen, nitrogen, helium), including chill-in, two-phase transients, and thermal stratification.
• Familiarity with real-fluid property libraries and equations of state (REFPROP, CoolProp, NIST data) and their limits of validity.
• Experience analyzing valves, regulators, injectors, or turbopump feed systems, including flow-force and stability behavior.
• Experience supporting propulsion hot-fire testing, cold-flow testing, or vehicle fill/drain operations with live analysis support.
• Experience building automated data pipelines or analytics tooling over large test datasets.
• Familiarity with uncertainty quantification, design of experiments, or statistical model calibration methods.
• Experience with structural or thermal FEA (ANSYS, Nastran, Abaqus) for coupled fluid-structure or conjugate heat transfer problems.
• Familiarity with relevant industry standards (AIAA S-080/S-081, ASME BPVC, SAE, and MIL-spec fluid system standards).
• Experience at a fast-moving, hardware-focused startup or early-stage program.

Compensation and Benefits

The salary range for this position is $130,000 - $190,000 annually. The actual base salary offered will depend on factors such as job-related skills, experience, qualifications, and internal equity.

• Equity in Cowboy Space Corp.
• Employees and their eligible dependents may enroll in medical, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k) retirement savings plan
• Paid time off
• 10 paid holidays per calendar year
• Paid parental leave
• Relocation assistance if applicable
• Daily lunch in the office and a fully stocked kitchen with beverages and snacks

ITAR Requirements

• Export Control Requirement: To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), applicants must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.