Senior Aerothermal CFD Methods Engineer - High Enthalpy

Inversion; California (MO); On-site; USD 161,000 - 221,000; Full time

Job summary

Inversion is seeking a Staff Aerothermal CFD Methods Engineer to build and extend computational tools for reentry vehicle aerothermal environments. You will develop new physics models, numerics, and solver capabilities, extending US3D and related platforms.

The role requires 9+ years of CFD experience, strong Fortran/C++ coding skills, and the ability to obtain a U.S. government security clearance. This is an on-site position at Inversion HQ in Playa Vista, CA.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Aerospace or Mechanical Engineering, Applied Mathematics, Physics, or equivalent experience in a related field
• Typically, 9+ years of experience developing CFD methods and solver capabilities
• Experience writing, extending or modifying high‑enthalpy CFD solvers
• Experience modeling high‑temperature gas dynamics and chemistry, including thermochemical non‑equilibrium
• Experience modeling multi‑phase flows with an emphasis on droplet interactions
• Strong fundamentals in numerical methods for compressible flow, including finite volume discretization, shock capturing, and implicit solution methods
• This position is on-site at Inversion HQ in Playa Vista, CA
• Must have the ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. government Secret/Top Secret security clearance.

Responsibilities

• Build and extend the computational tools used to characterize the aerothermal environment around reentry vehicles
• Develop, implement, and validate extensions to existing high enthalpy flow solvers, spanning physics models, numerical methods, and solver infrastructure
• Implement and improve models of high‑temperature gas dynamics, including thermochemical non‑equilibrium
• Develop multi‑phase flow modeling capability with an emphasis on droplet interactions
• Verify and validate new capabilities against analytical solutions, ground test, and flight data
• Work closely with production aerothermal analysts to harden new capabilities into reliable, documented tools
• Mentor engineers across the aerothermal team

Skills

CFD methods

Fortran

C/C++

MPI

US3D

high enthalpy flow

droplet modeling

numerical methods

prototyping

security clearance

Education

Bachelor's degree in Aerospace/Mechanical Engineering/Applied Mathematics/Physics

Tools

US3D

Fortran

MPI

C/C++

Job description

Inversion is seeking a Staff Aerothermal CFD Methods Engineer to build and extend computational tools for reentry vehicle aerothermal environments. You will develop new physics models, numerics, and solver capabilities, extending US3D and related platforms.

The role requires 9+ years of CFD experience, strong Fortran/C++ coding skills, and the ability to obtain a U.S. government security clearance. This is an on-site position at Inversion HQ in Playa Vista, CA.