Turbomachinery Engineer (Raptor)

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

Qualifications

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

Prior Experience and Skills

• 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

Additional Requirements

• Willingness to travel in support of launching and testing of hardware
• Willingness to work extended hours and weekends as needed to resolve critical technical or timing issues