Senior Computational Fluid Dynamics Engineer (Thermal-Hydraulics)

Location: Santa Clara, California, or remote within the United States; remote employees must travel to headquarters twice per quarter, and the first two weeks of onboarding are in person in Santa Clara.

Salary: $100,000–$190,000 per year, depending on experience.

Company

hirify.global develops advanced fission power plants, nuclear fuel recycling technologies, and radioisotope supply-chain solutions to deliver clean and reliable energy.

What you will do

• Develop and conduct high-fidelity CFD analyses of thermal-hydraulic behavior in reactor cores, reactor vessels, heat exchangers, power-conversion systems, and balance-of-plant systems.
• Design, model, and analyze thermal-hydraulic systems and develop efficient methods that build confidence in engineering designs.
• Perform thermal, fluid, safety, manufacturability, and cost analyses.
• Collaborate with cross-functional design teams to define requirements and provide technical feedback during rapid design iterations.
• Process simulation data through pre-processing, post-processing, and scripting.
• Document analyses and prepare clear, thorough technical reports.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s, master’s, or PhD in nuclear, mechanical, aerospace, or another technical engineering field.
• Proficiency with STAR-CCM+, ANSYS Fluent, OpenFOAM, Nek-5000, or an equivalent CFD tool.
• Strong foundation in heat transfer, fluid dynamics, and thermodynamics from first principles.
• Experience with data processing, including pre-processing, post-processing, and scripting.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills and the ability to work independently in a fast-paced, iterative environment.
• Remote employees must be able to attend headquarters meetings and events twice per quarter, with in-person attendance required during the first two weeks of onboarding.

Nice to have

• Thermal-hydraulic engineering and multiphysics analysis experience for power systems or advanced reactors.
• Experience analyzing heat exchangers, turbomachinery, fluid-control systems, or reactor transients.
• Experience with nuclear engineering and reactor safety codes such as GOTHIC, RELAP, TRACE, SAM, or SAS4A/SASSYS-1.
• Modern software engineering experience and fluency with Python.
• Five or more years of CFD experience in an industrial setting.

Culture & Benefits

• Startup environment focused on efficiency, ownership, creativity, and solving open-ended problems.
• Collaborative, cross-disciplinary culture emphasizing humility, transparency, and shared responsibility.
• Flexible time off and flexible work hours.
• Equity, bonuses, performance incentives, 401(k), health insurance, and FSA.
• Employment may be contingent on successful completion of drug screening and may include ongoing testing under company policy and applicable law.