Aerodynamicist

What you'll do

• Own aerodynamic analysis of hypersonic vehicles, from early concept shaping through to flight test.
• Perform aerodynamic design and trade studies to shape vehicle configurations, working closely with the Systems, Structures, and Guidance, Navigation and Control (GNC) teams.
• Run computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations alongside fast engineering-level methods to support rapid design decisions.
• Develop and maintain aerodynamic databases covering forces, moments, and control effectiveness across the flight envelope.
• Provide aerodynamic and aerothermal loads as inputs to structural, thermal, and flight dynamics analyses.
• Plan, specify, and support wind tunnel test campaigns, and use the results to validate and refine predictions.
• Correlate predictions with ground and flight test data, and feed lessons learned back into design and tools.
• Contribute to the development of in-house aerodynamic tools and simulation workflows.
• Document methods, assumptions, and results to ensure traceability and configuration control.

Who you are

• A hands-on Aerodynamicist with experience taking aerodynamic analysis from concept through to test or flight.
• Degree in Aerospace or Mechanical Engineering, Physics (or related discipline); a postgraduate qualification in aerodynamics or fluid dynamics is a plus.
• Strong grounding in compressible aerodynamics and high-speed flow.
• Experience with CFD tools (e.g. Ansys Fluent, STAR-CCM+, OpenFOAM, SU2), including meshing, setup, and critical assessment of results.
• Programming skills (e.g. Python or MATLAB) for automation, data processing, and building aerodynamic models.
• Experience with wind tunnel testing or flight test data analysis is a strong advantage.
• Comfortable making sound engineering judgements with incomplete data in fast-moving, prototype-heavy environments.