Turbomachinery Tech Lead

Blue Origin; Huntsville (AL); On-site; USD 170,000 - 237,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock Options

Paid Time Off

Job summary

Blue Origin is seeking a senior turbomachinery engineer in the Engines unit to lead technical developments from concept to production. You will define design guidelines, key parameters, and margins, and coordinate validation across lifecycle stages.

The role requires deep analysis capability, hands-on engineering, and the ability to set standards and trade-offs while ensuring system-level performance and operability.

Qualifications

• MS/MA in Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering with turbomachinery emphasis.
• 10+ years in turbomachinery design/analysis for aerospace propulsion.
• 5+ years of technical decision-making over multi-discipline turbomachinery.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the technical authority for turbomachinery from concept through production.
• Own the turbomachinery development roadmap and design guidelines.
• Define analysis methods, validation rigor, and lifecycle-phase documentation.

Skills

Turbomachinery design

CFD analysis

Meanline aerodynamics

Python scripting

Education

MS in Mechanical/Aerospace Eng

Tools

ANSYS

Job description

About Blue Origin

At Blue Origin, we envision millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth. We’re working to develop reusable, safe, and low-cost space vehicles and systems within a culture of safety, collaboration, and inclusion. Join our team of problem solvers as we add new chapters to the history of spaceflight!

Role Overview

This role is part of the Blue Origin Engines business unit, where our focus is the design, development, manufacturing, and testing of engines and propulsion systems. Built for multiple uses, our family of engines is powering the next generation of rockets for commercial, civil, national security, and human spaceflight. As part of our turbomachinery development branch, you will serve as the technical authority for turbomachinery products — owning the technical development roadmap, setting performance baselines, and establishing the design processes and analytical rigor the team designs to. You will work closely with the Branch Lead to baseline products for each lifecycle phase and product evolution, ensuring that turbomachinery design decisions are informed by and inform system-level performance and operability. This is the key technical decision-making role for turbomachinery — not a management role, but a hands‑on technical architecture role that requires deep analysis capability combined with the judgment to set standards, adjudicate trades, and represent the branch as its technical voice in system-level forums. We are looking for someone to apply their technical expertise, leadership skills, and commitment to quality to positively impact safe human spaceflight. Passion for our mission and vision is required! Special Mentions Relocation provided Travel expected up to 25% of the time.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the technical authority for turbomachinery products from concept through qualification and production.
• Own the turbomachinery technical development roadmap — defining the sequence of trades, analyses, and decisions required to mature each product.
• Establish turbomachinery design guidelines, key design parameters (KDPs), and margin requirements for each technical discipline.
• Define analysis methods, validation rigor, and documentation expectations appropriate to each lifecycle phase.
• Adjudicate turbomachinery architecture trades: staging, speed, machine type, rotor support, seal selection, and configuration.
• Own the bidirectional interface between turbomachinery design and system performance — how turbomachinery design conditions and performance targets affect system operability limits (steady‑state and transient), and how system ConOps affect turbomachinery function, performance, and reliability.
• Identify turbomachinery‑driven constraints on system operability and work with systems engineers to resolve or accommodate them.
• Work with the Branch Lead to baseline turbomachinery products at each lifecycle gate and define technical content and success criteria for design reviews.
• Own the turbomachinery performance baseline — the predictions, margins, and validated models that constitute the technical basis for each product.
• Perform or direct analysis across the core turbomachinery disciplines: meanline aerodynamic design, CFD, secondary flow and seal modeling, structural analysis, dynamic loading and forced response, and rotordynamic analysis.
• Establish the margins required for safe designs in each discipline and enforce their application.
• Define the correlation basis, property databases, and validation anchors the team uses — require traceability to heritage data or published sources.
• Drive continuous improvement of analysis tools, methods, and automation.
• Represent the turbomachinery branch in program‑level reviews, trade studies, and key decision points.
• Mentor engineers in turbomachinery fundamentals, engineering judgment, and the rationale behind design standards.
• Support hardware build, assembly, acceptance testing, and anomaly investigation; provide engineering dispositions for non‑conforming turbomachinery hardware.
• Develop and maintain design requirements and documentation; contribute technical artifacts to subsystem and program gated reviews (SRR, PDR, CDR, MRR, TRR).

Minimum Qualifications

• M.S. in Mechanical Engineering or Aerospace Engineering, with emphasis on turbomachinery, fluid mechanics, or thermodynamics.
• 10+ years of experience in turbomachinery design and analysis for aerospace propulsion systems (turbopumps, gas turbines, or power turbines).
• 5+ years with technical decision‑making authority over multi‑discipline turbomachinery development.
• Ability to perform or critically evaluate analysis in: meanline aerodynamic design, CFD, secondary flow and seal modeling, structural analysis (static and fatigue), dynamic loading and forced response (Campbell diagrams, modal analysis), and rotordynamics.
• Understanding of margins required for safe turbomachinery designs in each of these disciplines.
• Knowledge of how turbomachinery performance characteristics propagate into system‑level behavior and vice versa.
• Demonstrated experience establishing design processes, analysis standards, and margin frameworks for turbomachinery hardware programs.
• Track record taking turbomachinery products from concept through hardware with personal accountability for the technical baseline.
• Proficiency with commercial analysis tools (ANSYS suite or equivalent) and scripting for analysis automation (Python preferred).
• Familiarity with industry standards, including but not limited to relevant AIAA/AGMA design practices.
• Experience working in cross‑disciplinary engineering teams.
• A track record of taking ownership, showing resilience in the face of challenges, and consistently delivering results.

Preferred Qualifications

• 15+ years of relevant industry experience.
• Experience with rocket propulsion turbomachinery (LOX/LH2, LOX/RP‑1, LOX/CH4, or similar).
• Experience with closed‑loop cycle turbomachinery designs and systems.
• Familiarity with additive manufacturing for turbomachinery components (blisks, impellers, housings).
• Experience with non‑traditional rotor support systems (dry gas seals, hydrostatic bearings, foil bearings).
• Experience with transient operability analysis — spool‑up, load rejection, and thermal transients and their effects on turbomachinery reliability and life.
• Familiarity with NASA GFSSP, Sinda/FLUINT, or equivalent flow network solvers.
• Experience with parametric cost modeling and design‑to‑cost trades.
• Prior experience at a rocket propulsion or gas turbine OEM.
• Demonstrated use of — or genuine enthusiasm to adopt — modern AI‑assisted engineering tools (e.g., LLM‑based design / analysis / scripting assistants integrated into the daily development environment).

Base Pay Range

Base Pay Range for: WA applicants is $169,624.00 - $237,473.25 Other site ranges may differ.

Culture Statement

Don’t meet all desired requirements? Studies have shown that some people are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single desired qualification. At Blue Origin, we are dedicated to building an authentic workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every desired qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles. We’re committed to building the road to space so our children can build the future. We are a mission‑driven company focused on ideas and innovation, and encourage fresh perspectives from bold voices. At Blue, our team is building the future as their unique selves. Thank you for your interest in working at Blue Origin! Blue Origin was founded with a vision to enable a future where millions of people are living and working in space to benefit Earth. In order to preserve Earth, Blue Origin believes in the need to enable humanity to expand, explore, find new energy and material resources, and move industries that stress Earth into space. Blue Origin believes it has an important role in building a road to space and lowering the cost of getting there. At Blue Origin, we’re working on this today by developing fully reusable launch vehicles and systems that are safe, reliable and affordable. Every launch vehicle is designed for human spaceflight from the beginning and able to ferry payloads to space.

Export Control Regulations

Applicants for employment at Blue Origin must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (i.e. current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum.

Background Check Required

Blue’s Standard Background Check Required for Certain Job Profiles: Defense Biometric Identification System (DBIDS) background check if at any time the role requires one to be on a military installation. Required for Certain Job Profiles: Drivers who operate Commercial Motor Vehicles with a Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW), Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) or combination of power unit and trailer that meets or exceeds 10,001 lbs. and/or transports placardable amounts of hazardous materials by ground in any vehicle on a public road while in commerce, may be subject to additional Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations including: Driver Qualification Files, Medical Certification (obtained before onboarding), Road Test, Hours of Service, Drug and Alcohol Testing, vehicle inspection requirements, CDL requirements (if applicable) and hazardous materials transportation/shipping training. Required for certain Job Profiles: Ability to obtain and maintain Merchant Mariner Credential, which includes pre‑employment and random drug testing as well as DOT physical.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision, basic and supplemental life insurance, paid parental leave, short and long‑term disability, 401(k) with a company match of up to 5%, and an Education Support Program.
• Stock Options for all regular employees (working at least 20 hours/week).
• Paid Time Off: Up to four (4) weeks per year based on weekly scheduled hours, and up to 14 company‑paid holidays.
• Dependent on role type and job level, employees may be eligible for benefits and bonuses based on the company's intent to reward individual contributions and enable them to share in the company's results, or other factors at the company's sole discretion.
• Bonus amounts and eligibility are not guaranteed and subject to change and cancellation. Please check with your recruiter for more details.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Blue Origin is proud to be an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer and is committed to attracting, retaining, and developing a highly qualified and dedicated workforce. Blue Origin hires and promotes people on the basis of their qualifications, performance, and abilities. We support the establishment and maintenance of a workplace that fosters trust, equality, and teamwork. We provide all qualified applicants for employment and employees with equal opportunities for hire, promotion, and other terms and conditions of employment, regardless of their race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin/ethnicity, age, physical or mental disability, genetic factors, military/veteran status, or any other status or characteristic protected by federal, state, and/or local law. Blue Origin will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with applicable federal, state, and local laws, including the Washington Fair Chance Act, the California Fair Chance Act, the Los Angeles Fair Chance in Hiring Ordinance, and other applicable laws.

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