Graduate Vehicle Performance Engineer — Autonomy & Defense

Mach Industries Inc.; Huntington Beach, Northern (CA, KY); Hybrid; USD 115,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Healthcare

Dental and Vision

Retirement savings

Paid time off

Equity participation

Job summary

Mach Industries is hiring a New Graduate Vehicle Performance Engineer to support analysis, design, and optimization of autonomous defense systems. You may contribute to aerodynamics, aerothermal analysis, thermal systems, vehicle performance, trajectory analysis, or MDAO, collaborating with cross-functional teams.

You will analyze vehicle concepts, build analytical models, and use Python or MATLAB to automate analyses, with a focus on translating data into actionable engineering decisions.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Applied Mathematics, Physics, or related field.
• Graduating by summer 2027.
• Technical experience gained through internships, research, academic projects, student teams, or professional roles.
• Foundational understanding of fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, heat transfer, flight mechanics, numerical methods, or vehicle performance.
• Experience using MATLAB, Python, or a similar technical computing language.
• Experience developing analytical models, running simulations, or analyzing engineering data.
• Ability to communicate technical results and work effectively across engineering disciplines.
• Ability to work on-site in Huntington Beach, California.

Responsibilities

• Analyze the aerodynamic, aerothermal, thermal, and mission-level performance of aircraft, missiles, and other autonomous defense platforms.
• Develop analytical models and simulation tools to evaluate vehicle performance across operating conditions and mission profiles.
• Perform aerodynamic and thermal analyses using computational, reduced-order, and first-principles methods.
• Support vehicle sizing, configuration development, trajectory analysis, and multidisciplinary design trade studies.
• Evaluate the effects of geometry, mass properties, propulsion, aerodynamics, thermal constraints, and control requirements on overall vehicle performance.
• Build and improve MDAO frameworks that connect multiple engineering disciplines and accelerate design-space exploration.
• Use Python, MATLAB, or similar tools to automate analyses, process data, and communicate technical results.
• Support CFD, conjugate heat transfer, thermal network, or other physics-based modeling activities.
• Correlate analytical and simulation results with wind-tunnel, ground-test, environmental-test, or flight-test data.
• Collaborate with vehicle design, propulsion, structures, GNC, systems, software, manufacturing, and test teams.
• Clearly communicate assumptions, technical risks, performance trades, and recommendations to the broader engineering team.
• Develop tools, processes, and documentation that improve the speed and repeatability of vehicle analysis.

Skills

MATLAB

Python

Numerical methods

Data analysis

Aerodynamics basics

Flight mechanics

MDAO concepts

Education

Bachelor’s/Master’s/Doctoral in Aerospace/Mechanical/Applied Math/Physics

Tools

ANSYS Fluent

STAR-CCM+

OpenFOAM

Thermal Desktop

Simcenter

Job description

Mach Industries is hiring a New Graduate Vehicle Performance Engineer to support analysis, design, and optimization of autonomous defense systems. You may contribute to aerodynamics, aerothermal analysis, thermal systems, vehicle performance, trajectory analysis, or MDAO, collaborating with cross-functional teams.

You will analyze vehicle concepts, build analytical models, and use Python or MATLAB to automate analyses, with a focus on translating data into actionable engineering decisions.