Turbomachinery Engineer (Raptor)

SpaceX•Hawthorne, CA

12h•$100,000 - $140,000•Onsite

About The Position

SpaceX is seeking a highly motivated Turbomachinery Engineer to join our team in designing and developing the next generation of turbopumps for Raptor. Lead the design, development and qualification of rocket turbopumps for multiple applications at SpaceX, taking the designs from initial concept to flight. Conduct coupled aerodynamic/hydrodynamic and mechanical design and demonstrate a broad turbomachinery system understanding as well as the ability to work with a wider team of specialists in the various sub systems. Ensure that turbomachinery solutions are developed to meet challenging manufacturing goals, minimum cost/weight and on an aggressive schedule.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in an engineering discipline
1+ years of experience in the design of turbomachinery (extracurricular and internship experience qualifies)

Nice To Haves

Master's degree or higher in aerospace, aeronautics or mechanical engineering
Strong understanding of pump hydrodynamic/aerodynamic design and fundamentals of turbomachinery (mechanical design, and hands on experience with turbomachinery hardware build).
Strong understanding of thermodynamics, compressible and incompressible flow, thermochemistry mechanics and/or materials
Experience with turbomachinery manufacturing and design of manufacturability
Experience with secondary flow and axial thrust balance modeling
Experience with meanline analysis, turbomachinery testing and engine testing
Professional experience using Siemens NX (Unigraphics) or other CAD packages
Experience with Ansys (CFX, mechanical, thermal)
Understanding of engineering fundamentals and the ability to develop first principles based models and quick estimates
Experience at a nimble engineering organization or in a highly technical position that required a scrappy, entrepreneurial manner to accomplish tasks with tight time or budget constraints

Responsibilities

Design, build and test turbopumps for liquid fueled rocket engines and other rocket or spacecraft systems
Own critical turbomachinery components and be responsible for every aspect of the turbomachinery design, demonstrate ownership and work in close collaboration with manufacturing and assembling
Perform the hydrodynamic sizing and flowpath design and analysis work for impellers and diffusers for the raptor engine and other turbomachinery for spacecraft systems
Ensure that detailed mechanical analysis is performed on all the turbopump components/systems. Review drawings and make sure that selected designs meet the required standards for life and reliability targets
Devise accurate and correct models, develop new methodologies and first principles-based tools to determine turbopump performance and operability. Push the boundary of the state of the art of turbomachinery designs by exploring innovative concepts
Interface with our world-class production team to ensure designs are successfully translated into flight hardware that is revolutionizing access to space
Work with teams developing other systems (vehicle, feedlines, valves, etc.) to ensure that the turbopump design is optimally integrated and that risks are well balanced across the system
Own secondary flow analysis and design, ensure that current and future hardware meets performance targets
Support both component and assembly testing. Be involved with defining the test configuration, the test process/execution and review the results to confirm
Lead the resolution of issues encountered with the turbopump during development/qualification testing
Support ongoing design improvements to turbopump assemblies and/or sub systems including manufacturing improvements to reduce cost and lead time of components