Blue Origin

CFD Analyst III

Blue Origin$121K — $169K *
Aerospace & Defense
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • B.S. degree in Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering, or related field
  • 5+ years of CFD analysis experience in combustion systems or turbomachinery
  • Proficiency with CFD software such as ANSYS Fluent or OpenFOAM
  • Strong knowledge of fluid mechanics and heat transfer principles
  • Skill in deriving thermal and pressure boundary conditions for finite element analysis
  • Experience with complex 3D mesh generation and automation scripting
  • U.S. citizenship or permanent residency required.

Responsibilities

  • Develop and maintain CFD models for thermal and structural analysis
  • Generate detailed flow field and heat gradient predictions for components
  • Provide boundary conditions for finite element thermal and structural teams
  • Collaborate with analysts to integrate CFD results into structural models
  • Validate CFD predictions against test data and drive improvements
  • Assist in developing test plans to confirm thermal design meets requirements
  • Optimize designs based on CFD analysis for efficiency and performance

Benefits

  • Medical, dental, and vision insurance
  • Life insurance options and paid parental leave
  • Short and long-term disability coverage
  • 401(k) plan with 5% company match
  • Education Support Program
  • Stock options for eligible employees
  • Generous paid time off including up to 14 holidays annually
Full Job Description
Application close date:
Applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis until the requisition is closed.

This role is part of the Blue Origin Engines business unit, where our focus is the design, development, manufacturing, and testing of engines and propulsion systems. Built for multiple uses, our family of engines is powering the next generation of rockets for commercial, civil, national security, and human spaceflight.

As part of a hardworking team of engineers, you will design, analyze, and optimize complex engine components, assemblies and systems. As an experienced practitioner in CFD, you will be responsible for developing high-fidelity computational models to predict thermal environments and structural loading in combustion systems and turbomachinery. Your analyses will directly inform thermal and structural design decisions, boundary condition derivation, and component life assessments across the engine operating envelope. You will collaborate closely with thermal analysts, structural analysts, and systems engineers to ensure integrated and consistent predictions across the engine. Relying on your fundamentals in fluid mechanics and heat transfer you will anchor CFD models to test data and make recommendations for updated instrumentation on subsequent test campaigns.

Special Mentions
  • Relocation provided
  • Travel expected up to 10% of the time


Responsibilities include but are not limited to:
  • Develop, execute, and maintain CFD models to predict thermal environments, heat flux distributions, and structural loading for combustion devices and turbomachinery components
  • Generate high-fidelity predictions of flow fields, temperature distributions, and thermal gradients to support component design and life assessments across steady-state and transient operating conditions
  • Derive CFD-based thermal and pressure boundary conditions for use by thermal and structural finite element analysis (FEA) teams
  • Collaborate with thermal analysts using tools such as ANSYS Mechanical/Classic and Thermal Desktop to ensure consistent and integrated thermal state predictions
  • Collaborate with structural analysts to ensure CFD-derived thermal loads are accurately translated into structural models and support failure mode evaluations including strength, fatigue, and creep
  • Anchor CFD model predictions to engine and component test data; identify discrepancies and drive model improvements
  • Support test plan development to verify thermal requirements and generate data necessary to establish confidence in design solutions
  • Perform trade studies using CFD to optimize cooling designs, combustion efficiency, and turbomachinery flow path performance
  • Develop and improve CFD process automation tools for mesh generation, boundary condition setup, post-processing, and report generation
  • Advocate for methods and best practices that will improve component analysis performance and reliability
  • Provide technical mentorship to less experienced engineers and perform peer review of CFD analyses across Blue Origin's active engine programs

Minimum Qualifications
  • B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related engineering discipline
  • Minimum of 5 years of industry experience performing CFD analysis in support of combustion systems, turbomachinery, or related engine systems
  • Demonstrated proficiency with one or more commercial or open-source CFD codes (ANSYS Fluent, ANSYS CFX, Siemens Star-CCM+, OpenFOAM)
  • Solid understanding of fluid mechanics, heat transfer
  • Experience deriving and applying thermal and pressure boundary conditions for use in downstream finite element thermal and structural analyses
  • Familiarity with mesh generation tools and best practices for complex 3D geometries
  • Demonstrated experience using scripting or programming languages for pre/post-processing automation (Python, MATLAB, Fortran, VBA, or similar)
  • Good communication skills and proficiency with engineering productivity tools
  • 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
  • M.S. or Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related discipline with a focus on thermal/fluid sciences or computational methods
  • Experience with conjugate heat transfer (CHT) simulations coupling fluid and solid thermal domains
  • Familiarity with analysis tools such as ANSYS Workbench or Thermal Desktop to support integrated modeling workflows using CFD-derived loads
  • Experience with reacting flow or combustion CFD modeling (e.g., premixed/non-premixed combustion, species transport)
  • Experience with turbomachinery flow path analysis, including rotor-stator interactions, disk cavity flows, and seal leakage
  • Prior job experience in thermal/fluid testing and instrumentation definition
  • Demonstrated knowledge of phase change heat transfer
  • Experience with Agentic AI


Base Pay Range for:
WA applicants is $121,023.00 - $169,432.20

Other site ranges may differ

Benefits
  • Benefits include: Medical, dental, vision, basic and supplemental life insurance, paid parental leave, short and long-term disability, 401(k) with a company match of up to 5%, and an Education Support Program.
  • Stock Options for all regular employees (working at least 20 hours/week)
  • Paid Time Off: Up to four (4) weeks per year based on weekly scheduled hours, and up to 14 company-paid holidays.
  • Dependent on role type and job level, employees may be eligible for benefits and bonuses based on the company's intent to reward individual contributions and enable them to share in the company's results, or other factors at the company's sole discretion. Bonus amounts and eligibility are not guaranteed and subject to change and cancellation. Please check with your recruiter for more details.


About Blue Origin

Blue Origin is an aerospace company that develops rockets and spacecraft for commercial and government customers. The company's products include the New Shepard suborbital vehicle and the New Glenn orbital rocket. Blue Origin was founded in 2000 by Jeff Bezos and is headquartered in Kent, Washington.
Learn more about Blue Origin
Size
3,000 employees
Industry
Founded
2000

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