Staff Aerothermal CFD Methods Engineer Verified today

About Inversion Space

Inversion builds advanced reentry systems to deliver next-generation capabilities from space. The mission is to make Earth radically more accessible by turning Low-Earth Orbit into an on-demand logistics domain. Spacecraft are designed to deliver payloads anywhere on Earth in under an hour, operating through extreme reentry conditions and landing with high precision. Working with the U.S. Space Force, NASA, and backed by Y Combinator, Spark Capital, and Lockheed Martin Ventures.

What You'll Do

The aerothermal environments that Inversion's vehicles fly through push beyond what off-the-shelf analysis tools can characterize. As the Staff Aerothermal CFD Methods Engineer, you will build and extend the computational tools your aerothermal team depends on by developing new physics models, numerics, and solver capabilities. A meaningful portion of this work will involve developing extensions to US3D.

• Build and extend computational tools used to characterize the aerothermal environment around reentry vehicles
• Develop, implement, and validate extensions to existing high enthalpy flow solvers, spanning physics models, numerical methods, and solver infrastructure
• Implement and improve models of high-temperature gas dynamics, including thermochemical non-equilibrium and finite-rate chemistry including ablation products or other additional species present in flow
• Develop multi-phase flow modeling capability with an emphasis on droplet interactions - atomization and breakup, evaporation, droplet-shock and droplet-surface interaction, and two-way coupling between dispersed and continuous phases
• Verify and validate new capabilities against analytical solutions, ground test, and flight data
• Work closely with production aerothermal analysts to harden new capabilities into reliable, documented tools
• Mentor engineers across the aerothermal team

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Aerospace or Mechanical Engineering, Applied Mathematics, Physics, or equivalent experience in a related field
• Typically 9+ years of experience developing CFD methods and solver capabilities
• Experience writing, extending or modifying high-enthalpy CFD solvers
• Experience modeling high-temperature gas dynamics and chemistry, including thermochemical non-equilibrium
• Experience modeling multi-phase flows with an emphasis on droplet interactions - such as spray atomization and breakup modeling for fuel injection systems, or coolant droplet modeling for turbine engines
• Strong fundamentals in numerical methods for compressible flow, including finite volume discretization, shock capturing, and implicit solution methods
• Proficiency in compiled scientific programming languages such as Fortran, C, or C++
• Proven ability to work effectively in a fast-paced environment, including prototyping and rapid iteration of new products
• On-site position at Inversion HQ in Playa Vista, CA
• Must have the ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. government Secret/Top Secret security clearance

Desired Qualifications

• PhD in Aerospace or Mechanical Engineering, Applied Mathematics, or a related field
• Familiarity with both Lagrangian and Eulerian approaches to particle tracking as well as experience with droplet breakup and dispersion modeling