Rotorcraft Design and Assessment Subject Matter Expert

CFD Research Corporation is seeking multidisciplinary design experts in rotary-wing and advanced air vehicle design to support the U.S. Army Aviation & Missile Center's (AvMC) Technology Development Directorate (TDD). The engineer will apply existing computational tools, develop new computational methods, and build models in specialized areas such as cost, propulsion, and parametric design to support rotorcraft conceptual, preliminary, and detailed component design activities.

Job Description:

This position will support the Conceptual Design and Assessment (CD&A) branch with a focus on guiding and integrating multidisciplinary design efforts to accomplish trades studies that inform requirements development. The position will help formulate strategies supporting long-term planning, new project initiation, and engagement with emerging customers. In addition, this role will perform assessment of air vehicle performance, weight, cost, and operational assessment. The position will support the development and evaluation of new aircraft concepts against user requirements, assess ongoing aircraft development programs, and provide technical expertise to TDD for future air vehicle concepts and exploratory design initiatives.

Responsibilities:

• Represent CD&A as an aircraft design subject matter expert (SME) at meetings, industry forums, program reviews, technology demonstrations, and operational tests.
• Advise leadership on strategic planning activities, identifying paths for future concept exploration, tool development, and application to new, manned and unmanned air vehicle systems.
• Utilize government-standard tools, such as NASA Design and Analysis of Rotorcraft (NDARC), for detailed aircraft modeling and performance assessment.
• Perform trade studies working with TDD customers and stakeholders to explore requirements trade space and provide guidance on impacts of aircraft designs as related to operational requirements.
• Guide the formulation of trade studies working with TDD customers and stakeholders.
• Support CD&A long-term planning activities, providing expert opinions on tool development, review of long-range project plans, and strategic direction.
• Mentor new hires and other engineers, foster growth in aircraft design principles, analytical methods, and engineering best practices.

Basic Qualifications:

• 12+ years of experience performing conceptual design of rotorcraft manned/unmanned systems, estimating aircraft performance, weights, and cost.
• M.S. in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or related field from an accredited college or university.
• Direct experience developing aircraft designs and estimating performance using NDARC and AIDEN.
• Demonstrated ability to work independently and lead technical efforts with minimal oversight.
• Direct experience conducting aircraft trade studies to define and explore trade space.
• Experience guiding and developing junior engineers on technical teams.
• Demonstrated experience briefing senior leaders.
• Demonstrated ability to lead technical discussions, reviews, and working groups.
• U.S. Citizen.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a DoD Secret security clearance.
• Must be able to travel up to 10% of the time.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Advanced knowledge of rotor conceptual design process.
• Experience with OpenVSP, OpenMDAO, Creo Parametric, and Python.