SpaceX has ambitious plans to make humanity a multiplanetary species, with the ultimate goal of enabling human life on Mars.
Aerodynamics Engineer Job Description
The Starship Aerodynamics team is responsible for predicting the aerodynamics and aerothermal environments experienced by the booster and ship during all phases of their missions.
Aerodynamics engineers use engineering models, simulations, and wind-tunnel testing to provide accurate predictions ahead of flight validation.
The team works closely with the GNC (guidance, navigation, and control) team to enable safe landing and recovery of both Starship stages after mission completion.
Aerodynamics engineers have a clear understanding of the flow fields experienced by our vehicles through various flight regimes, from subsonic through hypersonic.
Responsibilities:
* Prepare, mesh, run, and post-process CFD models
* Review post-flight data and compare to pre-flight estimates
* Interface with responsible engineers, providing inputs to their designs and ensuring they have a clear understanding of the physical phenomena
* Write code and scripts in various languages, making sure they share common interfaces and can be part of an automated workflow
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:
* Bachelor's degree in an engineering discipline
* 5+ years of experience with aerodynamic and aerothermal analysis
PREFERRED SKILLS & EXPERIENCE:
* Master's degree or PhD in aerospace or mechanical engineering
* Experience with Siemens STAR-CCM+ and developing scripts in Java for it
* Experience with solvers used by NASA for entry vehicles, e.g. FUN3D, Loci/CHEM, DPLR
* Experimental testing experience
* Data processing and analysis in MATLAB or Python
* Experience with Siemens NX
* Experience with thermal protection systems
* Strong background in external, compressible fluid dynamics