Senior Aerothermal Analysis Engineer

Location: Playa Vista, California; in-person five days per week. Candidates must be U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, protected individuals, or eligible to obtain the required U.S. authorizations.

Salary: $170,000–$225,000 annual salary, plus performance-based bonuses and equity.

Company

hirify.global is an orbital logistics company developing reusable Earth-return vehicles for in-space manufacturing, on-orbit warehousing, global delivery, defense, commercial cargo, research, and critical aid missions.

What you will do

• Own aerothermal environment definition for the CarryAll vehicle across its complete flight envelope, from early trade studies through flight.
• Run high-enthalpy CFD at key trajectory points and model thermochemical non-equilibrium effects.
• Use engineering-level heating methods to cover trajectories and attitudes between detailed CFD solutions.
• Combine CFD, engineering estimates, and ground and flight test data into environment databases with defined uncertainties and margins.
• Collaborate with GNC, TPS, structures, and mechanism engineers to establish thermal, structural, and trajectory limits.
• Develop custom solver capabilities, automate environment generation, and manage compute resources.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in Aerospace or Mechanical Engineering.
• 5+ years of experience in hypersonic, supersonic, reentry, or rocketry aerothermodynamic analysis.
• Experience with high-enthalpy flow solvers such as FUN3D, US3D, or DPLR.
• Experience with MPI, high-performance computing environments, and large-scale CFD campaign automation.
• Strong knowledge of hypersonic aerodynamics, boundary layer physics, convective and radiative heat transfer, and thermochemical non-equilibrium.
• Programming proficiency in Python, Fortran, C++, or MATLAB for analysis tooling and automation.

Nice to have

• Active U.S. Government Security Clearance.
• Master’s or PhD in Aerospace or Mechanical Engineering.
• Experience with FUN3D user-defined subroutines, aerodynamic databases, uncertainty quantification, and design margins.
• Experience with reusable TPS, deployable or flexible decelerators, radiation transport, TPS sizing, or material response tools.
• Experience leading wind-tunnel or arc-jet test campaigns and working in startups or small independent teams.

Culture & Benefits

• Annual performance-based bonuses and meaningful equity participation.
• Medical, dental, and vision coverage, plus disability and life insurance.
• Paid time off, nine paid holidays, and a 401(k) with company match.
• Daily lunch stipend, unlimited snacks, coffee, and tea.
• Pet-friendly office with company events and a collaborative aerospace and deep-tech environment.