Staff Propulsion Analyst, Engine Performance (Aerospace)

Location: Hybrid work with onsite presence required; successful candidates must be located near Denver or Colorado Springs, Colorado. The position is also listed for Denver, CO or Long Beach, CA.

Salary: $175,000–$305,000 per year, plus equity and benefits.

Company

hirify.global develops autonomous spacecraft, advanced payloads, mission software, and space-based interceptors for space superiority and defense.

What you will do

• Develop and maintain integrated 1D engine and thruster cycle models for performance prediction, sensitivity analysis, and architecture trade studies.
• Analyze and size liquid rocket engine injectors, including atomization, mixing efficiency, and hardware design guidance.
• Assess combustion instability using acoustic mode analysis, the Rayleigh criterion, numerical methods, and design mitigation strategies.
• Apply CFD and build conjugate heat-transfer and regenerative-cooling models to evaluate combustion dynamics, heat flux, wall temperatures, and coolant pressure drop.
• Validate models against hot-fire test data, support suppliers and hardware designers, and create parametric tools for propulsion development.
• Establish analytical best practices, structure analysis plans, and mentor engineers on propulsion analysis methods and tools.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering.
• 12+ years of professional experience in liquid rocket engine or thruster analysis.
• Hands-on experience with integrated 1D engine cycle modeling using ROCETS, Sinda/Fluint, GFSSP, or comparable tools.
• Significant experience with injector sizing, combustion instability assessment and mitigation, two-phase fluid modeling, conjugate heat transfer, and regenerative cooling.
• Experience across the thruster development lifecycle, from concept studies through hardware qualification, with strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Must be a U.S. citizen and eligible for DoD Secret or TS/SCI clearance; ITAR eligibility is required.

Nice to have

• Master’s or PhD in Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering with an analysis focus.
• Experience with Thermal Desktop, Ansys Fluent, Flow-3D, Python, MATLAB, or comparable analysis and automation tools.
• Experience supporting propulsion test campaigns, validating models after testing, and solving coupled thermo-fluid-structural problems.
• Experience in a startup or resource-constrained, high-tempo environment and familiarity with the full vehicle lifecycle.

Culture & Benefits

• Hybrid work environment with some work performed onsite.
• Health, dental, vision, HRA/HSA options, PTO, and paid holidays.
• 401(k) and parental leave.
• Equity participation.