At SpaceX, we believe that a future where humanity is out exploring the stars is fundamentally more exciting than one where we are not.
Aerodynamics engineers are responsible for predicting the aerodynamics and aerothermal environments experienced by spacecraft during all phases of their missions.
The team works closely with the guidance, navigation, and control team to enable them to safely land and recover both spacecraft stages once their mission is accomplished.
Aerodynamics engineers are expected to have a clear understanding of the flow fields experienced by our vehicles through the various flight regimes, from subsonic through hypersonic.
Key responsibilities include:
* Preparing, meshing, running and post-processing computational fluid dynamics models
* Reviewing post-flight data and comparing to pre-flight estimates
* Interfacing with responsible engineers, providing them inputs to their designs and ensuring they have a clear understanding of the physical phenomena they are dealing with
* Writing code and scripts in a variety of languages, making sure they share common interfaces and can be part of a mostly automated workflow
Qualified candidates should possess:
* Bachelor's degree in an engineering discipline
* 5+ years of experience with aerodynamic and aerothermal analysis
Preferred skills and qualifications include:
* 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