Sr. Aerodynamics Engineer (Starship)

About the role

The Starship Aerodynamics team is responsible for predicting the aerodynamics and aerothermal environments booster and ship experience during all phases of their missions. Aerodynamics engineers use engineering models, simulations and wind-tunnel testing in order to provide the most accurate predictions ahead of flight validation.

The team works closely with the GNC (guidance, navigation, and control) team in order to enable them to safely land and recover both Starship stages once their mission is accomplished. Moreover the team supports engineers responsible for vehicle structures during their design efforts.

Aerodynamics engineers are expected to have a clear understanding of the flow fields experienced by our vehicles through the various flight regimes, from subsonic through hypersonic, and apply this understanding while they operate our prediction tools.

Responsibilities

• Prepare, mesh, run, and post process CFD models
• Review post-flight data and compare to pre-flight estimates
• Interface with responsible engineers, providing them inputs to their designs and ensuring they have a clear understanding of the physical phenomena they are dealing with
• Write code and scripts in a variety of languages, making sure they share common interfaces and can be part of a mostly automated workflow

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in an engineering discipline
• 5+ years of experience with aerodynamic and aerothermal analysis

Preferred Skills & Experience

• Master's degree or PhD in aerospace or mechanical engineering
• Experience with Siemens STAR-CCM+ and developing scripts in Java for it
• Experience with solvers used by NASA for entry vehicles, e.g. FUN3D, Loci/CHEM, DPLR
• Experimental testing experience
• Data processing and analysis in MATLAB or Python
• Experience with Siemens NX
• Experience with thermal protection systems
• Strong background in external, compressible fluid dynamics

Additional Requirements

• Must be willing to work extended hours and/or weekends as needed

Itar Requirements

• To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here.