Conceptual Blade Design Engineer

Envision

$90K — $130K *
Aerospace & Defense
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • MSc or PhD in engineering (Aerospace, Mechanical, Civil), applied mathematics, or physics.
  • 5+ years of professional experience in wind, aerospace, or closely related industries; recent MSc or PhD graduates with relevant research encouraged to apply.
  • Knowledge of multi-disciplinary design optimization and numerical techniques, including genetic algorithms and machine learning.
  • Familiarity with aerodynamics concepts related to various flow types and turbine components.
  • Proficiency in programming and mathematical modeling in MATLAB, Python, or C/C++, with experience in version control tools.
  • Understanding of structural mechanics and beam theory; experience with composite structures is a plus.
  • Experience with HPC systems and Linux.

Responsibilities

  • Lead blade design trade studies by formulating problems, selecting methodologies, interpreting results, and recommending design directions.
  • Generate design space explorations to identify trends and guide design decisions in uncertain environments.
  • Innovate and implement new design concepts that align with organizational needs.
  • Contribute to or lead the development of software tools to support design tasks.
  • Manage and interpret engineering datasets to ensure quality and suitability.
  • Perform 2D/3D blade and airfoil CFD using various methods.
  • Conduct validation studies to improve model accuracy against field performance.

Benefits

  • Collaborative and supportive work environment with a focus on personal and professional development.
  • Opportunity to contribute to cutting-edge wind turbine technology development.
  • Flexibility to explore innovative designs and methodologies.
  • Encouragement of continual learning and adaptation.
  • Dynamic, entrepreneurial corporate culture that fosters creativity and innovation.
Full Job Description
As a key member of the GBIC's conceptual design team, you will be responsible for the design and analysis of wind turbine blades. This includes the development of new blade technologies and associated computational tools and methodologies. The successful candidate will have most of the following qualifications: • MSc or PhD in engineering (Aerospace, Mechanical, Civil etc.), applied mathematics, or physics, • 5+ years of professional experience; ideally wind and/or aerospace or closely related industry. That said, recent MSc or PhD graduates with relevant research experience are still strongly encouraged to apply. • Understanding of multi-disciplinary design optimization (MDO) concepts and numerical optimization and associated techniques such as gradient-based search, genetic algorithms, and machine learning. • Understanding of fundamental aerodynamics as it relates to low Mach, steady and unsteady, turbulent and laminar, incompressible and external flow. • Understanding of applied aerodynamics as it relates to 2D airfoils, lifting wings, rotors, and horizontal axis wind turbines and associated analysis methods such as Blade-Element Momentum Theory, lifting-line and CFD • Proficiency in programming and mathematical modeling in MATLAB, Python, C/C++, or similar is critical. Experience with revision control software like Git or Mercurial is also an asset. • Understanding of structural mechanics and beam theory. Experience with composite structures is also an asset. • Understanding of aero-elasticity, basic turbine operation and control. • Understanding of numerical computational geometry such as NURBS • Familiar with AI tools to automate routine tasks and improve workflow efficiency. • Familiar with HPC systems and Linux • Demonstrated ability to make sound engineering decisions under conditions of uncertainty, incomplete information, and competing technical objectives, while balancing performance, manufacturability, cost, and risk. Proven ability to prioritize effectively and collaborate with multidisciplinary teams across diverse backgrounds. It is not expected that the ideal candidate has all the qualifications above. What is compulsory however, is a strong desire to quickly learn and adapt combined with a sense of technical curiosity and a self-motivating/self-starting open mindset that will enable easy knowledge transfer. Tasks and responsibilities of the conceptual design engineer may include: • Leading blade design trade studies by defining appropriate problem formulations, selecting suitable methodologies, critically interpreting results, and exercising engineering judgment to recommend design directions • Generating and interpreting design space explorations to identify meaningful trends, understand complex engineering trade-offs, and guide strategic design decisions under uncertainty. • Innovating and implementing novel design concepts and technologies that suit the current and future needs of the organization. • Contributing to and/or leading new software tool development efforts to support the design tasks mentioned above. • Contributing to and/or leading new blade design and technology campaigns. • Perform 2D/3D blade and airfoil CFD using panel-methods and/or commercial CFD solvers • Performing 2D airfoil design, analysis and optimization. • Managing, validating, and interpreting engineering datasets to ensure traceability, quality, and suitability for model development, design decisions, and technology maturation. • Planning and performing validation studies to continually improve the accuracy of computational models vs. field performance measurements. The Conceptual Blade Design Engineer should have strong interpersonal, collaboration and communication skills and be able to clearly articulate the conclusions from complicated engineering analyses to both expert and non-expert groups alike. They are expected to use data-driven approaches along with their professional judgment and experience to solve open-ended and novel challenges. A minds-on / hands-on approach is expected within Envision's highly entrepreneurial corporate culture as you tackle new challenges. Desire and ability to work across different cultures and international time zones is also critical. Candidates should expect up to 15% international travel.

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