Lead CFD Engineer: High-Speed Missile Aerodynamics

Zone 5 Technologies; Fort Worth (TX); On-site; USD 149,000 - 220,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision

401k match

Paid time off

Company holidays

Job summary

Zone 5 Technologies seeks an experienced CFD Lead to head high-fidelity aerodynamic analyses for air-launched effects and next‑gen munitions. You will mentor a team of aerodynamicists, set CFD standards, and collaborate with Propulsion, GNC, and Design to ensure robust, flight-ready performance data.

You will guide mesh generation, validation against wind tunnel/flight-test data, and development of automated HPC workflows, while supporting design reviews and program milestones.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of CFD analysis leadership in a product-centric, program-driven environment.
• Proficient with aerospace/defense CFD solvers and meshing tools.
• Experience validating CFD against wind tunnel/flight data.

Responsibilities

• Lead high-fidelity CFD analyses (RANS/URANS/DES) across defense speed regimes.
• Establish shared analysis standards and document procedures for CFD data development.
• Participate in program-level resource allocation and deliverable estimates.
• Validate CFD models against wind tunnel and flight test data.
• Develop mesh generation and convergence studies for complex geometries.
• Collaborate to integrate aerodynamic data into vehicle design and performance models.
• Present findings at design reviews and internal discussions.
• Mentor CFD engineers and review analysis approaches.
• Develop automated workflows for batch HPC job generation and data reduction.
• Track HPC usage and software licensing.

Skills

CFD leadership

Python scripting

Linux HPC

Git/SVN

Project management

6-DOF trajectory

Education

Bachelor's degree in Aerospace or Mechanical Engineering

Master's degree preferred

Tools

CFD++

OVERFLOW

FUN3D

STAR-CCM+

ANSYS Fluent

Pointwise

ANSA

Chimera Grid Tools

ParaView

FieldView

ANSYS Workbench

Job description

Zone 5 Technologies seeks an experienced CFD Lead to head high-fidelity aerodynamic analyses for air-launched effects and next‑gen munitions. You will mentor a team of aerodynamicists, set CFD standards, and collaborate with Propulsion, GNC, and Design to ensure robust, flight-ready performance data.

You will guide mesh generation, validation against wind tunnel/flight-test data, and development of automated HPC workflows, while supporting design reviews and program milestones.