Principal Aerodynamics Engineer
Varda Space IndustriesCalifornia, United States • Washington, District of Columbia, United States • Huntsville, Alabama, United States
Posted October 28, 2025
192500 - 221375 USD year
About the Company
Varda Space Industries accelerates commercial space infrastructure development, focusing on in-orbit pharmaceutical processing and reliable reentry capsules. By leveraging reusable rockets to reduce costs, Varda enables the manufacture of Earth-bound products like life-saving medications and advanced fiber optics only possible in space. The company's mission is to expand the economic potential of space for the benefit of humanity.
Job Description
Varda is an aerospace startup accelerating the development of commercial space infrastructure, particularly reentry capsules. They are seeking a Principal Aerodynamics Engineer to lead the development of their next vehicle, focusing on hypersonic maneuvering and subsonic terminal approach. The ideal candidate will have experience with 6-DOF reentry vehicle dynamics, CFD simulations, and wind tunnel campaigns, and preferably involve participation in a current flying vehicle's aerodynamic development.
Requirements
- BS in an engineering of physics & 5+ years of relevant industry experience
- Significant contribution to aerodynamic development of a hypersonic vehicle that has flown or is expected to fly in the next 5 years
- Managed an aerodynamic or flight program that collected data from: test, CFD, flight, and other sources
- Experience running CFD and DSMC simulations of hypersonic and subsonic flows
- Comfortable building structured and unstructured meshes in Pointwise
- Experience with Matlab, or Python languages
- Experience with wind tunnel campaigns
- Experience developing an aerodynamic database for a vehicle from scratch
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Ability to obtain a security clearance
- Familiarity with modeling vehicle dynamics in POST2 or similar tools
- Experience sizing ablative or non-ablative TPS
- Experience with flight reconstruction and post-flight performance evaluations
- Experience with flight testing of new aerodynamic features and concepts
- Hold a secret or TS clearance
Benefits
- Exciting team
- Equity in a fully funded space startup
- Health insurance
- Lunch and snacks provided
- Paid time off
- Unlimited PTO
- Maternity / Paternity leave
- 401(k)
