Modeling and Simulation Manager

Location: Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, with potential support for commercial plant operations in Benson, North Carolina. Must be a U.S. Person due to access to U.S. export-controlled information or facilities.

Company

hirify.global manufactures American rare-earth permanent magnets for defense, aerospace, automotive, and other critical industries.

What you will do

• Build and manage a matrixed team of computational scientists and engineers across multiphysics modeling and simulation disciplines.
• Define the hiring roadmap, team structure, and capability milestones.
• Translate R&D priorities into modeling agendas with clear deliverables, timelines, and success criteria.
• Partner with process engineering, materials science, and production teams to improve magnet performance, yields, and process efficiency.
• Establish standards for model validation, documentation, reproducibility, and peer review.
• Present results, recommendations, uncertainty, and model limitations to technical and executive stakeholders.

Requirements

• Ph.D. or M.S. in Materials Science, Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Applied Physics, or a related quantitative field.
• 5+ years of hands-on experience with COMSOL, Fluent, or equivalent, including coupled multiphysics models and finite element analysis.
• Strong mathematical modeling experience, including image analysis, machine learning, statistical modeling, or signal processing applied to materials characterization data.
• Experience leading or mentoring a small technical team and developing junior researchers.
• Proficiency in Python, MATLAB, Git, or equivalent tools for scripting, data analysis, and model post-processing.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills for technical reporting and explaining complex results to non-specialist audiences.

Nice to have

• Experience with DFT codes such as VASP or Quantum ESPRESSO, or the ability to direct and interpret DFT studies.
• Background in rare-earth processing, hydrometallurgy, magnet manufacturing, grain boundary diffusion, or sintering simulation.
• Familiarity with FactSage, Thermo-Calc, electron microscopy image analysis, and quantitative microstructural characterization.
• Publication record in computational materials science, process simulation, or permanent magnets.
• Experience managing budgets, external collaborators, or academic partnerships.

Culture & Benefits

• Work is focused on mission-critical manufacturing, national security, and economic resiliency.
• Emphasis on mission focus, technical excellence, scientific rigor, transparency, and rapid iteration.
• The role initially supports pilot-scale and R&D activities, with potential expansion to commercial plant operations.