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Propulsion Engineer – Thermo-Mechanical Analysis Verified today

Blue Origin · 2 Locations · Propulsion · first seen 2026-09-10
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About the role

This is a Propulsion Engineer position within the Blue Origin Engines business unit, focusing on design, development, manufacturing, and testing of engines and propulsion systems for commercial, civil, national security, and human spaceflight applications.

You will own the thermo-mechanical modeling of large-scale rotating hardware. You will build and maintain 2D axisymmetric whole-engine models of the rotor and casing, integrate them with secondary-flow networks, and predict the metal temperatures, structural margins, and running clearances that determine whether our turbomachinery performs and survives. You will work with the integration and test groups for iterative learning and model corrections as the system matures through the design lifecycle.

Key responsibilities

  • Develop, maintain, and own 2D axisymmetric thermo-mechanical whole-engine and whole-pump models of rotating equipment, predicting metal temperatures, component deflections, and clearances across the full operating envelope.
  • Translate 3D component and assembly geometry into efficient 2D axisymmetric representations that capture the governing thermal and structural features.
  • Implement transient operating profiles (startup, acceleration, steady-state, throttle transients, shutdown, and cooldown/soak-back) and assess their effect on differential growth and clearances.
  • Work closely with secondary-flow analysts to develop conjugate thermal-fluid models, translating internal-flow network outputs (cavity pressures, temperatures, leakage flows, windage) into convective boundary conditions.
  • Apply thermal boundary conditions to axisymmetric structural models to predict rotor stack, casing stack separation margin, radial fits, and critical radial/axial clearance closure across transients.
  • Perform component structural margin, bolted-joint, and interference-fit assessments using 2D and 3D ANSYS, and feed results to life assessment (LCF/HCF/creep).
  • Synthesize thermal and structural analysis results into actionable operability guidance, informing system-level ConOps trades that balance hardware reliability and life against mission performance objectives.
  • Collaborate across disciplines (design, aero/CFD, secondary flow, rotordynamics, materials, and test) to anchor analysis assumptions and resolve complex hardware issues.
  • Develop and maintain analysis-driven design requirements and documentation; contribute technical artifacts to subsystem and program gated reviews (SRR, PDR, CDR, MRR, TRR).

Minimum qualifications

  • Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related field.
  • Minimum of 6 years of experience in mechanical/structural/thermal analysis of machinery systems or comparable high-performance hardware (or fewer years with demonstrated ownership of a whole-engine/2D axisymmetric thermo-mechanical model).
  • Hands-on experience with transient thermal and nonlinear structural finite element analysis in ANSYS (contact, plasticity, thermal-structural coupling).
  • Demonstrated experience of creating and building (not just running) whole-engine/2D axisymmetric thermo-mechanical models of rotating equipment.
  • Ability to independently derive convective heat-transfer boundary conditions from engineering correlations.
  • Experience working in cross-disciplinary engineering teams.
  • A track record of taking ownership, showing resilience in the face of challenges, and consistently delivering results.

Preferred qualifications

  • 8+ years of relevant industry experience.
  • Experience working in aerospace turbomachinery applications.
  • M.S. or Ph.D. in Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering or a related discipline.
  • Experience producing tip-clearance/pinch-point predictions that informed clearance budgets or active clearance control.
  • Life assessment experience: thermo-mechanical fatigue (TMF), creep, low-cycle and high-cycle fatigue (LCF/HCF).
  • Rotordynamics literacy (Campbell diagrams, critical speeds, bearing support stiffness).
  • Experience correlating and calibrating thermo-mechanical models against rig or engine test data.
  • Component design experience (bladed rotors/blisks, discs, casings, seals, bolted joints).
  • Scripting and automation (Python, MATLAB, ANSYS APDL).
  • Working knowledge of ASME Y14.5 GD&T and tolerance/stack-up analysis.
  • Experience with 1D fluid-network tools (e.g., Flownex) and proprietary whole-engine-model toolchains.
  • Background in gas turbines, steam turbines, auxiliary power units (APUs), turbochargers, or oil & gas dense-gas compressors/turboexpanders.
  • Experience with or enthusiasm to adopt modern AI-assisted engineering tools (e.g., LLM-based coding/analysis assistants) to accelerate modeling, scripting, and documentation.
  • Experience with LabVIEW and MATLAB.

Compensation and location

Base pay range for Washington applicants: $121,023.00 to $169,432.20 annually. Other site ranges may differ.

Relocation is provided. Travel expected up to 25% of the time. Interviews will include a technical assessment.

Employment details

U.S. citizenship, permanent residency, or refugee/asylum status is required. Background check required for all positions.

Benefits include medical, dental, vision, basic and supplemental life insurance, paid parental leave, short and long-term disability, 401(k) with company match up to 5%, and Education Support Program. Stock options available for all regular employees (20+ hours/week). Up to four weeks paid time off per year and up to 14 company-paid holidays.

Application close date: 09/14/2026