Aerodynamics Engineer

About the Role

You will own the aerodynamic model and the vehicle outer mold line: body shape, control surfaces, static margin, and the pipeline that turns geometry into the coefficient tables plant and flight software consume. Hands-on, end-to-end: run and extend the empirical pipeline, calibrate against DATCOM and CFD, and plan wind-tunnel campaigns. For someone who has taken an airframe and its plant model from concept through wind tunnel and flight, ideally tactical, airborne, or missile-class.

What You'll Do

• Own the vehicle outer mold line and the design trades on planform, sweep, taper, and area ratios against autopilot authority, static margin, and packaging.
• Own the aero pipeline end-to-end: the geometry-to-coefficient-table workflow that feeds plant and flight software. Decide when to extend empirical methods versus go to CFD or wind tunnel.
• Extend the nonlinear body-lift implementation (Allen-Perkins) and control surface buildups (Barrowman, Polhamus, Pitts-Nielsen carryover, Hemsch-Nielsen). Know which method is honest in which Mach and α regime.
• Stand up the CFD pipeline from zero: tool selection, meshing strategy, turbulence model defaults, transonic and supersonic best practices, and validation discipline.
• Calibrate against DATCOM near-term and wind-tunnel data long-term. Close the gaps the current pipeline shows against external cross-checks.
• Plan and run wind-tunnel campaigns: test matrix, model and sting design, blockage corrections, Reynolds scaling, and data reduction back into runtime tables.
• Own the static-margin envelope across burn and across Mach. Trade CG travel, fin sizing, and body length against intercept performance.
• Work the 6-DOF plant model end-to-end: rigid-body dynamics, atmosphere, wind, aero, propulsion, mass-properties evolution, and sensor and actuator models. Decide where to invest fidelity and where to stub.
• Build and extend the Monte Carlo dispersion harness: coefficient uncertainties, geometry sweeps, noise-source ablations, and the analysis to defend miss-distance claims.

Skills We're Hiring For

B.S. in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Applied Math, Physics, or related. M.S. or Ph.D. preferred.
7+ years of missile, munition, or high-speed airframe aerodynamics, with responsibility for one airframe from configuration through wind tunnel and flight.
Deep fluency with tactical-missile aero methods from first principles: slender-body, Allen-Perkins, Barrowman, Polhamus, Pitts-Nielsen, Hemsch-Nielsen. You can defend each at the whiteboard and know where it breaks.
Hands-on CFD across subsonic to supersonic. Meshing and solver fluency in at least one of Star-CCM+, OVERFLOW, Cart3D, SU2, or OpenFOAM.
Working fluency with Missile DATCOM and at least one engineering-level tool (AeroPredict, MISL3, RASAero, or equivalent). Reads, writes, and debugs input decks.
Built or owned a geometry-to-coefficient pipeline that feeds a real 6-DOF simulation, not a one-off study.
Wind-tunnel test experience: campaign planning, model and sting design, blockage corrections, Reynolds scaling, and data reduction back into a coefficient table.
Python (NumPy/SciPy) for pipeline scripting. Able to extend a coefficient-buildup codebase and stand up a Monte Carlo harness over aero parameters.
S&C derivative fluency: Cmα, Cmq, Cnβ, Cnr, Clp, control derivatives, hinge moments. Comfortable computing, measuring, and defending the difference.
Bias for low-cost airframes: track record of meeting kinematic and packaging requirements with a simpler shape or cheaper fabrication route than the legacy approach.
AI-native working style: daily use of agentic coding tools (Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, or similar) for pipeline scripting, CFD post-processing, and analysis.

Bonus Points For

Direct flight experience on a tactical missile, munition, or interceptor airframe.
High-α and post-stall aerodynamics: vortex burst, induced roll, pitch-yaw cross-coupling, and the CFD or wind-tunnel work to characterize them.
Transonic aerodynamics: aerodynamic-center migration, shock-induced separation, and the wind-tunnel discipline required to trust transonic numbers.
Hinge-moment prediction and actuator-load characterization across the full Mach and α envelope.
Aero-optic effects: vortex-induced LOS noise on a strapdown seeker dome, boundary-layer distortion, and mitigation strategies.
Production transition: moved an airframe from prototype to volume manufacturing, including DFM-driven OML refinements.
Direct missile, munition, or interceptor program experience (ESSM, AMRAAM, Meteor, RAM, SM-class, or equivalent).
C++/C/Rust experience for pipeline tooling, geometry processing, or CFD pre/post. Forward-looking interest in moving parts of the aero stack to Rust.
Hobbyist drone, model-rocketry, or RC-aircraft build and flight experience that translates to packaging, surface tolerances, and field-handling intuition.