May 2027 New Graduate Engineer, Vehicle Performance
About The Position
Mach Industries is seeking a New Graduate Vehicle Performance Engineer to support the analysis, design, and optimization of next-generation autonomous defense systems. Depending on experience and interests, the role may involve aerodynamics, aerothermal analysis, thermal systems, vehicle performance, trajectory analysis, or multidisciplinary design analysis and optimization (MDAO). The engineer will work with teams across vehicle design, propulsion, structures, guidance, navigation and control (GNC), systems, and test to evaluate vehicle concepts, identify performance drivers, and inform engineering decisions. The role is suited to an analytically strong engineer who enjoys multidisciplinary problem-solving and applying modeling, simulation, and test data to improve real-world vehicle performance. The position is on-site in Huntington Beach, California, and may require extended hours and weekends as needed. Applicants must meet the stated U.S. export-control eligibility requirements or be eligible to obtain required authorizations.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Applied Mathematics, Physics, or a related technical field.
- Graduating with a bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree by summer 2027.
- Technical experience gained through internships, research, academic projects, student teams, or professional roles.
- Foundational understanding of fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, heat transfer, flight mechanics, numerical methods, or vehicle performance.
- Experience using MATLAB, Python, or a similar technical computing language.
- Experience developing analytical models, running simulations, or analyzing engineering data.
- Ability to communicate technical results and work effectively across engineering disciplines.
- Ability to work on-site in Huntington Beach, California.
- Available to work extended hours and weekends as needed.
- Must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. lawful permanent resident, refugee, or asylee, or be eligible to obtain required U.S. Department of State authorizations.
Nice To Haves
- Experience in one or more of the following areas: aerodynamics, CFD, aerothermal analysis, thermal management, flight performance, trajectory analysis, vehicle sizing, or MDAO.
- Experience with CFD or thermal-analysis tools such as ANSYS Fluent, STAR-CCM+, OpenFOAM, Thermal Desktop, Simcenter, or equivalent software.
- Familiarity with aerodynamic database development, stability and control derivatives, or flight-performance modeling.
- Experience with steady-state or transient heat-transfer analysis, conjugate heat transfer, electronics cooling, or environmental testing.
- Experience developing multidisciplinary optimization workflows or integrating models across aerodynamics, propulsion, structures, mass properties, and GNC.
- Familiarity with optimization, uncertainty quantification, surrogate modeling, design of experiments, or statistical analysis.
- Experience correlating simulations with wind-tunnel, laboratory, environmental, or flight-test data.
- Participation in technical student teams such as Design/Build/Fly, rocketry, Formula SAE, UAV, CubeSat, or autonomous vehicle organizations.
Responsibilities
- Analyze aerodynamic, aerothermal, thermal, and mission-level performance of aircraft, missiles, and other autonomous defense platforms.
- Develop analytical models and simulation tools to evaluate vehicle performance across operating conditions and mission profiles.
- Perform aerodynamic and thermal analyses using computational, reduced-order, and first-principles methods.
- Support vehicle sizing, configuration development, trajectory analysis, and multidisciplinary design trade studies.
- Evaluate how geometry, mass properties, propulsion, aerodynamics, thermal constraints, and control requirements affect overall vehicle performance.
- Build and improve MDAO frameworks that connect engineering disciplines and accelerate design-space exploration.
- Use Python, MATLAB, or similar tools to automate analyses, process data, and communicate technical results.
- Support CFD, conjugate heat transfer, thermal network, and other physics-based modeling activities.
- Correlate analytical and simulation results with wind-tunnel, ground-test, environmental-test, or flight-test data.
- Collaborate with vehicle design, propulsion, structures, GNC, systems, software, manufacturing, and test teams.
- Communicate assumptions, technical risks, performance trades, and recommendations to the broader engineering team.
- Develop tools, processes, and documentation that improve the speed and repeatability of vehicle analysis.
Benefits
- Performance-based bonus structure tied to individual and company performance.
- Stock options or equity participation.
- Healthcare, dental, and vision plans.
- Retirement savings plans.
- Paid time off.
- Funds for continuing education, training, and career growth.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Entry Level
