Senior​/Principal Aerospace Engineer, Flight Mechanics - Onsite

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Sandia National Laboratories Flight Mechanics Department is seeking highly qualified and passionate aerospace engineers to explore and develop new and existing flight system concepts. In this exciting position, you will be asked to apply your knowledge and experience in aerodynamic models, flight mechanics, trajectory simulation, and flight system design to enable advanced concepts to be demonstrated in the national interest.

• Work as a member of driven, passionate, multi‑disciplinary teams
• Communicate directly with internal and external customers
• Support the design, development, and flight testing of advanced aerospace flight systems, including hypersonic flight vehicles, reentry bodies, and rocket systems
• Develop aerodynamic models used during all phases of flight vehicle design from early concept development through high‑fidelity flight demonstration
• Perform trajectory design and mission planning
• Create and optimize 3
  
  DOF/6
  
  DOF trajectory simulations of complex multi‑body flight systems for performance analysis and mission requirement verification/development
• Contribute to development and application of Sandia’s 3
  
  DOF/6
  
  DOF trajectory simulation tool TAOS
• Create system models and apply multi‑disciplinary design and optimization methods/tools for conceptual design trade‑space analysis
• Conduct flight safety analysis and support flight test operations at launch sites and remote ranges

Some travel is required for this position. Due to the nature of the role, this candidate must be able to work onsite.

$117,500 – $235,700 (salary range is estimated; actual salary will be determined after consideration of the selected candidate’s experience and qualifications, and application of any approved geographic salary differential).

• • A Bachelor’s degree in a relevant discipline and five (5) years of directly relevant experience, or an equivalent combination of directly relevant education and engineering or scientific experience that demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and ability to perform independent research and development.
• The ability to acquire and maintain a DOE Q‑level security clearance.

The ideal Aerospace Engineer candidate for Sandia National Laboratories will in addition possess the following:

• Graduate degree in Aerospace Engineering, Aeronautical Engineering, or a highly related field where an independent research project was a graduation requirement (e.g., independent project, thesis, or dissertation).
• Experience in applied aerodynamics, flight mechanics, or trajectory simulation with application to the design, modeling, simulation, optimization, and analysis of aerospace flight systems.
• Experience with the capabilities, use, and application of MATLAB®, Simulink®, Python, C/C++, or other modern programming languages and repositories in technical analysis/computing and software development.
• Proven ability to work and communicate effectively in a collaborative and interdisciplinary team environment.
• Demonstrated ability to work in a fast‑paced/schedule driven environment.
• Experience in developing and deploying multi‑fidelity aerodynamic and flight performance models…