Senior Fluid Systems Analyst – Space Propulsion & CFD

Cowboy Space Corporation; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 130,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity in Cowboy Space Corp

Health insurance (medical, dental, vis

401(k) retirement plan

Paid time off

10 holidays per year

Parental leave

Relocation assistance

Lunch in office

Job summary

Cowboy Space Corp. is seeking a Fluids Analyst to own the fluids prediction lifecycle, delivering models from first‑order sizing to test‑anchored predictions for flight.

You will build 1D networks and CFD analyses to predict pressure drops, flow, and thermal performance while guiding architecture choices before hardware is built. You’ll define instrumentation, enable data reduction, correlate models with test and flight data, and communicate findings clearly to design and leadership.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Chemical Engineering, or related field.
• 5+ years of experience performing fluid system analysis for flight vehicles, propulsion systems, or other high‑performance hardware.
• Strong fundamentals in fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, and heat transfer, including compressible flow, two‑phase flow, and transient system behavior.
• Experience building 1D fluid network or transient system models with tools such as Flownex, AFT (Fathom/Arrow/Impulse), EASY5, GFSSP, Simulink, or equivalent in‑house codes.
• Hands‑on experience with commercial or open‑source CFD (ANSYS Fluent, Siemens STAR‑CCM+, or OpenFOAM) applied to internal flow problems.
• Proficiency with Python (NumPy, pandas) or MATLAB for model development, data reduction, and automation of analysis workflows.
• Must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum.

Responsibilities

• Own the full lifecycle of fluids prediction and data for the team — from first-order sizing models through correlated, test‑anchored models used for flight.
• Build and maintain 1D fluid network and transient system models of engine and vehicle fluid systems to predict pressure drop, flow capability, and thermal performance.
• Perform early‑phase simulation and trade studies to inform architecture selection, line and orifice sizing, valve and regulator selection, and pressurization schedules before hardware is committed.
• Predict flow capability and pressure budgets across the system: line and fitting losses, flow distribution and manifold balance, cavitation and choked‑flow margin, NPSH, and engine inlet conditions.
• Analyze transient behavior — water hammer, priming and chill‑in, valve sequencing, blowdown and ullage collapse, tank pressurization and thermal stratification.
• Perform CFD analysis of valves, manifolds, and other internal‑flow components to resolve loss coefficients, flow distribution, and local behavior that lumped models cannot capture.
• Perform thermal‑fluid analysis including two‑phase and cryogenic behavior, heat leak, insulation performance, and conjugate heat transfer in fluid components.
• Define the instrumentation and measurement requirements needed to validate your models — specify what gets measured, where, at what rate, and to what accuracy.
• Support component‑level and system‑level test campaigns: write analysis‑driven test objectives and predictions and set red lines and expected values.
• Own reduction and analytics of fluids test data — build the data pipelines, automate processing across runs, quantify uncertainty, and turn raw channels into engineering quantities.
• Correlate models against test and flight data, quantify model error, and drive the updates that improve predictive accuracy over time.
• Establish and maintain the team's analysis methods, model libraries, fluid property data, and validation standards so results are repeatable and reviewable.
• Perform anomaly investigation and root cause analysis using test and flight data; reconstruct off‑nominal events and recommend corrective action.
• Balance model fidelity against schedule — know when a hand calculation is sufficient and when the problem warrants CFD.
• Communicate analysis results and their uncertainty clearly to designers, test engineers, and leadership, and document methods, assumptions, and conclusions in review‑ready form.

Skills

Fluids analysis

Python or MATLAB

Modeling experience

Data reduction

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Chemical Engineering, or related field

Tools

Flownex

AFT (Fathom/Arrow/Impulse)

EASY5

GFSSP

Simulink

ANSYS Fluent

Siemens STAR-CCM+

OpenFOAM

Python (NumPy, pandas)

MATLAB

Job description

Cowboy Space Corp. is seeking a Fluids Analyst to own the fluids prediction lifecycle, delivering models from first‑order sizing to test‑anchored predictions for flight.

You will build 1D networks and CFD analyses to predict pressure drops, flow, and thermal performance while guiding architecture choices before hardware is built. You’ll define instrumentation, enable data reduction, correlate models with test and flight data, and communicate findings clearly to design and leadership.