Foil Bearing Engineer

Barber-Nichols (BN) is a premier provider of custom turbo machinery solutions serving the Defense, Aerospace, Cryogenics, and Energy industries. Our team consists of industry leaders who collaborate closely with equally accomplished customers to deliver technologies that advance their markets and establish enduring partnerships. At BN, we foster a results-driven environment that values professional growth, rewards achievement, and supports innovation. From designing the blower for NASA’s Dragonfly mission to Saturn’s moon Titan to engineering critical components for the U.S. Navy’s MK-48 program, BN’s portfolio spans some of the most exciting and impactful projects in the world.

For those seeking to contribute to impactful projects alongside a highly skilled team, BN offers an exceptional place to build your career.

The Foil Bearing Engineer supports turbo machinery product development with a specialized focus on foil bearing modeling, analysis tool development, and integration within high-speed rotating systems. This role applies graduate-level expertise in rotor dynamics, fluid-film bearings, thermal-fluids, and computational analysis to deliver high-quality engineering solutions. The engineer independently executes portions of projects, contributes to the development of next-generation foil bearing analysis tools, and collaborates cross-functionally to ensure bearings integrate correctly with compressors, secondary flow systems, and supporting hardware.

Although the primary focus is foil bearing technology this position will also support broader turbo machinery analysis and development. Examples may include broader bearing technology development and analysis, turbo machinery analysis including structural and thermal FEA and CFD, as well as testing and performance data support for general turbo machinery development.

• Perform detailed engineering analysis and design of gas foil bearings for high-speed rotating machinery.
• Apply first-principles engineering to analyze 2D compressible flow in gas bearings, thermodynamics, heat transfer, and fluid-structure interactions within foil bearing systems.
• Evaluate bearing performance across operating conditions including speed, load, temperature, pressure, startup, shutdown, and transient events.
• Support bearing sizing, optimization, and integration into turbo machinery designs.

• Develop, maintain, and enhance COMSOL Multiphysics models used for gas foil bearing analysis.
• Build and improve computational models incorporating 2D compressible flow in gas bearings, thermal effects, and structural interactions.
• Validate simulation results through comparison with analytical methods and experimental test data.
• Improve model accuracy, computational efficiency, and usability while expanding the organization's technical modeling capability.
• Document computational methods, assumptions, model limitations, and best practices.

• Develop analytical methods and computational tools supporting foil bearing design and analysis.
• Create scripts and automation tools to improve engineering productivity and streamline analysis workflows.
• Collaborate with Barber-Nichols’ Foil Bearings Expert/Technical Fellow and other team members to advance analytical methodologies and implement new modeling capabilities.

• Support manufacturing and processing activities related to foil bearing components.
• Provide technical guidance on bearing materials, coatings, manufacturing processes, tolerances, and assembly methods.
• Support investigation and resolution of manufacturing, quality, and field performance issues affecting foil bearing hardware.

• Support development, qualification, and performance testing of foil bearing systems.
• Analyze test data and correlate results with analytical predictions.
• Participate in troubleshooting, root cause investigations, and continuous improvement of bearing designs.

The salary range for this role is $80,000 - $100,000 and is commensurate with the applicant’s experience. This…