Inversion Space
Senior Aerothermal Engineer
$137K–$193K
Playa Vista, California, United States · Senior · Full-time · Posted Aug 13, 2026
- Experience
- Typically, 5+ years in hypersonic, supersonic, reentry, or rocketry aerothermodynamic analysis.
- Education
- Bachelor's degree in Aerospace or Mechanical Engineering, or equivalent experience.
- Visa sponsorship
- 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 required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State to comply with ITAR.
About the job
Develops aerothermal environment databases for reentry vehicles by combining CFD, engineering estimates, and test data to guide vehicle design.
What you'll do
- Develop and maintain aerothermal environment databases across the vehicles’ flight envelopes, including high-enthalpy CFD and engineering-level heating estimates.
- Combine estimates from CFD, engineering methods, ground tests, and flight data into database products with defined uncertainties and margins.
- Deliver environments for TPS sizing, structural design, and trajectory constraints; build supporting automation and data infrastructure.
What they ask for
- Bachelor's degree in Aerospace or Mechanical Engineering, or equivalent experience.
- Experience running high-enthalpy flow solvers and using engineering-level heating estimation methods.
- Strong fundamentals in hypersonic aerodynamics, boundary layer physics, and convective and radiative heat transfer; proficiency in programming for analysis tooling and automation.
- Must be able to obtain and maintain a U.S. government Secret/Top Secret security clearance.
Nice to have
- Master's or PhD in Aerospace or Mechanical Engineering, or an equivalent field.
- Experience integrating varied-fidelity heating estimates, uncertainty quantification, or ground and flight test data into vehicle models.
Pay
$137,000-$193,000 USD base salary
Tools
US3D, DPLR, LAURA, Loci-CHEM, Python, Fortran, C++, MATLAB
Model-written summary · the original posting is authoritative