Material Response Modeling Engineer

About the role

The selected candidate will work on-site within the Thermal Protection Materials (TSM) Branch, part of the Entry Systems and Technology Division at NASA Ames Research Center (ARC). This position supports the development, application, verification, and validation of computational tools for predicting the response of thermal protection system (TPS) materials in extreme aerothermal environments.

Responsibilities

• Contributing to the development, maintenance, documentation, and application of the open-source NASA material-response software PATO
• Developing and implementing computational models for the response of TPS materials in extreme aerothermal environments
• Modeling relevant material-response phenomena, including thermal decomposition, pyrolysis, charring, oxidation, surface recession, spallation, phase change, and gas transport
• Developing efficient and scalable numerical methods for challenging coupled physics problems, including flow-material interactions and finite-rate physical and chemical processes
• Supporting verification, validation, and uncertainty assessment of material-response models through comparison with experimental data, including arc-jet and other high-temperature test environments
• Developing, testing, debugging, and maintaining scientific software in C++, Python, and related programming languages
• Performing and supporting large-scale simulations using high-performance computing resources
• Collaborating with computational modelers, material scientists, experimentalists, contractors, and NASA researchers in multidisciplinary technical teams
• Presenting project status, technical results, and recommendations to team members, management, and external technical audiences

Requirements

• M.S. or Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, Applied Mathematics, Computer Science, or a closely related technical discipline
• Demonstrated experience with computational modeling, scientific computing, or numerical simulation relevant to material response, heat transfer, reacting flows, ablation, or related multiphysics problems
• Strong programming skills in C++ and Python
• Familiarity with high-performance computing and large-scale simulation workflows
• Knowledge of numerical methods and software-development practices applicable to scientific and engineering computing
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to work both independently and effectively as part of a multidisciplinary team
• Ability to work full-time on-site at NASA Ames Research Center
• Occasional travel may be required

Qualifications

• Ph.D. in a relevant engineering, science, or computational discipline (preferred)
• Relevant professional research or engineering experience may be considered in place of some educational preferences
• Experience with PATO material-response software
• Experience with other material-response, TPS, ablation, or charring-material simulation tools, such as FIAT, Icarus, CHAR, or comparable government, academic, commercial, or internally developed codes
• Experience modeling ablative thermal protection system materials at the macroscale
• Experience with coupled fluid-thermal-chemical-material-response modeling or flow-material interaction solvers
• Experience with uncertainty quantification, sensitivity analysis, material-property modeling, or parameter estimation
• Experience with Fortran or other scientific programming languages
• Experience developing or maintaining open-source scientific software
• Familiarity with NASA Ames Research Center or NASA research and development environments