Staff Aerothermal Engineer

Staff Aerothermal Engineer

Archer is an aerospace company based in San Jose, California building an all-electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft with a mission to advance the benefits of sustainable air mobility. We are designing, manufacturing, and operating an all-electric aircraft that can carry four passengers while producing minimal noise.

Our sights are set high and our problems are hard, and we believe that diversity in the workplace is what makes us smarter, drives better insights, and will ultimately lift us all to success. We are dedicated to cultivating an equitable and inclusive environment that embraces our differences, and supports and celebrates all of our team members.

What You'll Do:

We are seeking a highly skilled and experienced Staff Aerothermal Engineer to join our Thermal Management Team within the Flight Sciences organization. This hands-on role will be crucial for developing and implementing thermal management strategies for an hybrid propulsion system for one of the Company's aircraft programs. The ideal candidate will work closely with our Powertrain and vehicle architecture teams and will be responsible for the thermal design and analysis of critical aircraft components, including the design and optimization of inlet and outlet duct shapes for air breathing engines and heat exchangers for electric engines and battery packs. This role requires a blend of theoretical knowledge, practical application, and advanced simulation skills to ensure optimal performance and reliability across the aircraft.

• Design, analyze, and optimize thermal management systems for both air breathing and electric engines as well as their integration into the aircraft platform
• Drive the OML definition of inlet and outlet ducts for an air breathing engine, optimizing the shape of intake and exhaust to minimize installation effects on the aircraft
• Analyze internal flows through convective heat exchange units for electric engine and battery cooling
• Define, validate, and verify requirements for thermal management systems, such as massflow and pressure drop requirements through convective heat exchange units
• Predict mass flows and pressure drops through the operating envelope of the vehicle using CFD
• Utilize advanced CFD and FEA tools to perform detailed thermal analysis, predict system performance, and identify potential thermal issues
• Support the planning and execution of test campaigns at component, system, and aircraft levels to collect data for thermal models correlation and validation
• Participate in design reviews, document analysis results, design recommendations, and contribute to technical reports

What You Need:

• BS / MS / PhD in Aerospace or Mechanical Engineering or a related field
• 6+ years of experience in thermal analysis and design of air breathing engines within the aerospace industry
• Strong understanding of heat transfer (conduction, convection, radiation), fluid dynamics, and aerodynamics fundamentals and their application to aerospace systems
• Demonstrated experience designing and implementing thermal management strategies for aerospace propulsion applications and hybrid-electric systems, including air breathing engines, electric motors, and batteries
• Demonstrated experience simulating external and internal flows for heat transfer problems
• Demonstrated experience with intake and exhaust duct design for air breathing engines, including 3D shape parametrization and optimization techniques
• Demonstrated experience with CFD and FEA software packages (e.g. NASA Overflow and/or Fun3D CFD solvers, StarCCM+, Ansys Fluent and Thermal analysis packages, Abacus, Nastran)
• Demonstrated experience with thermal testing and test-data correlation
• Familiarity with aerospace design principles, materials, and manufacturing processes
• Familiarity in Python programming (strongly preferred) or Matlab/Simulink programming coding experience
• Excellent problem-solving and critical-thinking skills
• Strong technical, written, and verbal communication skills
• Ability to work in groups and individually
• Experience in a fast-paced design environment

Bonus Qualifications:

• Experience with eVTOLs or other electric aircraft programs
• Familiarity with thermal management of avionics and aeronautical structures
• Experience with CAD modeling systems (e.g. NX, CATIA, Solidworks)
• Experience with system-level lab or wind tunnel testing as well as vehicle-level testing (ideally flight test experience). Experience with test campaign planning, execution, and data processing
• Experience with experimental data processing and reduction techniques
• Experience with software development, object-oriented, version control best practices, as well as Git, CICD, Conda
• Experience utilizing high-performance computing (HPC) to parallelize workflows
• Knowledge of simulation model verification and validation, model calibration, and uncertainty quantification methods