CFD Analyst III

BLUE ORIGIN•Huntsville, AL

1d•$121,023 - $169,432

About The Position

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! 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 a hardworking team of engineers, you will design, analyze, and optimize complex engine components, assemblies and systems. As an experienced practitioner in CFD, you will be responsible for developing high-fidelity computational models to predict thermal environments and structural loading in combustion systems and turbomachinery. Your analyses will directly inform thermal and structural design decisions, boundary condition derivation, and component life assessments across the engine operating envelope. You will collaborate closely with thermal analysts, structural analysts, and systems engineers to ensure integrated and consistent predictions across the engine. Relying on your fundamentals in fluid mechanics and heat transfer you will anchor CFD models to test data and make recommendations for updated instrumentation on subsequent test campaigns.

Requirements

B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related engineering discipline
Minimum of 5 years of industry experience performing CFD analysis in support of combustion systems, turbomachinery, or related engine systems
Demonstrated proficiency with one or more commercial or open-source CFD codes (ANSYS Fluent, ANSYS CFX, Siemens Star-CCM+, OpenFOAM)
Solid understanding of fluid mechanics, heat transfer
Experience deriving and applying thermal and pressure boundary conditions for use in downstream finite element thermal and structural analyses
Familiarity with mesh generation tools and best practices for complex 3D geometries
Demonstrated experience using scripting or programming languages for pre/post-processing automation (Python, MATLAB, Fortran, VBA, or similar)
Good communication skills and proficiency with engineering productivity tools
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.

Nice To Haves

M.S. or Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related discipline with a focus on thermal/fluid sciences or computational methods
Experience with conjugate heat transfer (CHT) simulations coupling fluid and solid thermal domains
Familiarity with analysis tools such as ANSYS Workbench or Thermal Desktop to support integrated modeling workflows using CFD-derived loads
Experience with reacting flow or combustion CFD modeling (e.g., premixed/non-premixed combustion, species transport)
Experience with turbomachinery flow path analysis, including rotor-stator interactions, disk cavity flows, and seal leakage
Prior job experience in thermal/fluid testing and instrumentation definition
Demonstrated knowledge of phase change heat transfer
Experience with Agentic AI

Responsibilities

Develop, execute, and maintain CFD models to predict thermal environments, heat flux distributions, and structural loading for combustion devices and turbomachinery components
Generate high-fidelity predictions of flow fields, temperature distributions, and thermal gradients to support component design and life assessments across steady-state and transient operating conditions
Derive CFD-based thermal and pressure boundary conditions for use by thermal and structural finite element analysis (FEA) teams
Collaborate with thermal analysts using tools such as ANSYS Mechanical/Classic and Thermal Desktop to ensure consistent and integrated thermal state predictions
Collaborate with structural analysts to ensure CFD-derived thermal loads are accurately translated into structural models and support failure mode evaluations including strength, fatigue, and creep
Anchor CFD model predictions to engine and component test data; identify discrepancies and drive model improvements
Support test plan development to verify thermal requirements and generate data necessary to establish confidence in design solutions
Perform trade studies using CFD to optimize cooling designs, combustion efficiency, and turbomachinery flow path performance
Develop and improve CFD process automation tools for mesh generation, boundary condition setup, post-processing, and report generation
Advocate for methods and best practices that will improve component analysis performance and reliability
Provide technical mentorship to less experienced engineers and perform peer review of CFD analyses across Blue Origin's active engine programs