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 our aerothermal team depends on - developing new physics models, numerics, and solver capabilities rather than simply applying existing ones. A meaningful portion of this work will involve developing extensions to US3D. In this role, you will:

• Build and extend the 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

• This position is on-site 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 models (e.g., KH-RT, TAB)

• Experience with Fortran, particularly in the context of extending existing solver codebases

• Direct experience with US3D, including extension through user-defined subroutines

• Experience with plasma simulation for weakly ionized flows and / or experience with electromagnetic simulation

• Experience with parallel scientific computing (e.g., MPI) on large-scale HPC systems

• Prior experience working in startups and/or small independent teams

Our office headquarters is located in Playa Vista, CA. This position requires in-office presence.

The California annual base salary for this role is currently $161,000-$221,000. Pay Grades are determined by role, level, location, and alignment with market data. Individual pay will be determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on the following considerations: interviews and an assessment of several factors that are unique to each candidate, job-related skills, relevant education and experience, certifications, abilities of the candidate and internal equity.

ITAR Compliance:

To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here.