Aerospace Engineer - Fully Remote | Upto $85/hr

Obsidian; San Francisco (CA); Remote; USD 140,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Obsidian in San Francisco seeks a senior aerodynamics expert to design benchmarks of the hardest reasoning questions in the field. You will author original, free‑response engineering problems grounded in real industry scenarios and craft complete expert‑level solutions for each.

You will validate difficulty by running problems against frontier language models and assess results, ensuring at least one model fails.

Qualifications

• PhD in Aerospace Engineering or a Mechanical Engineering with a thermofluids/aerodynamics specialization.
• 5+ years of hands-on professional/industry experience in external aerodynamics, CFD, wind tunnel testing, propulsion, or vehicle aerodynamics.

Responsibilities

• Author original, free‑response engineering problems grounded in real industry scenarios.
• Write a complete expert‑level solution for each problem.
• Validate difficulty by running problems against frontier language models to ensure at least one model fails.

Skills

External Aerodynamics

Aeroelastic FEM

Education

PhD in Aerospace Engineering

Tools

CFD

Wind Tunnel Testing

Propulsion

Vehicle Aerodynamics

Job description

We're looking for a senior aerodynamics expert to help build a benchmark of the hardest reasoning questions in the field — questions specifically designed to be difficult enough that today's most capable AI models still get them wrong. You'll author original, free-response engineering problems grounded in real industry scenarios, write a complete expert-level solution for each, and validate difficulty by running it against three frontier language models until at least one fails.

Requirements: PhD in Aerospace Engineering, or Mechanical Engineering with a thermofluids/aerodynamics specialization, plus 5+ years of hands‑on professional/industry experience in external aerodynamics, CFD, wind tunnel testing, propulsion, or vehicle aerodynamics. Backgrounds in rocket/satellite propulsion, structural/aeroelastic FEM, or wind-loads-on-buildings do not map to the taxonomy needed for this role. Candidates from well‑known/blue‑chip employers preferred.