2026 Graduate - Hypersonics Engineer - Vehicle Design and Technologies

Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory•Laurel, MD

17h

About The Position

Does hypersonic vehicle design sound like a fun challenge? How about missiles, UAVs, and roto-craft? If you are graduating with a Bachelor's or Master's degree in Aerospace or Mechanical Engineering and want to innovate and be part of the Vehicle Design and Technologies Group - we design the future! Join our multidisciplinary team of experts across vehicle design disciplines including propulsion, aerodynamics, thermal, advanced materials, mechanical and structural engineering. We investigate basic science and transition it into state of the art vehicle technology enabling innovation and revolutionary new designs. Your research will be applied to conceptualize, design, and prototype advanced vehicles and weapons to meet critical national and warfighter needs. Depending on your areas of interest, some of the ways you can contribute are: Predict and model the aerodynamic characteristics of various air-vehicle configurations including hypersonic re-entry vehicles, supersonic and hypersonic air-breathing concepts, and subsonic fixed-wing or rotorcraft unmanned air vehicles (UAVs). Perform multi-fidelity analysis using commercial and in-house CFD and thermal software in support of vehicle aerothermal design and analysis across various flow regimes from subsonic to hypersonic. Plan and execute ground tests and design models for various wind tunnel and arcjet facilities. Conduct post-test analysis to validate numerical predictions then create and improve high fidelity models. Design future conceptual vehicles, performing detailed multidisciplinary system analysis including integration with launch platforms. Optimize hypersonic propulsion designs including inlet design, flowpath analysis, system integration, test, and evaluation.

Requirements

Have a Bachelor's or Master's degree in Aerospace or Mechanical Engineering
Have strong communications and collaboration skills
Are able to obtain Interim Secret level security clearance by your start date and can ultimately obtain Secret level clearance. If selected, you will be subject to a government security clearance investigation and must meet the requirements for access to classified information. Eligibility requirements include U.S. citizenship.

Nice To Haves

Have intern experience in the aerospace industry designing or evaluating vehicle performance
Have demonstrated leadership skills

Responsibilities

Predict and model the aerodynamic characteristics of various air-vehicle configurations including hypersonic re-entry vehicles, supersonic and hypersonic air-breathing concepts, and subsonic fixed-wing or rotorcraft unmanned air vehicles (UAVs).
Perform multi-fidelity analysis using commercial and in-house CFD and thermal software in support of vehicle aerothermal design and analysis across various flow regimes from subsonic to hypersonic.
Plan and execute ground tests and design models for various wind tunnel and arcjet facilities. Conduct post-test analysis to validate numerical predictions then create and improve high fidelity models.
Design future conceptual vehicles, performing detailed multidisciplinary system analysis including integration with launch platforms.
Optimize hypersonic propulsion designs including inlet design, flowpath analysis, system integration, test, and evaluation.