SHY Aerothermal Lead - 19022 Jobs

Job Title

The Flight Systems Futures operating unit within Strategic Deterrent Systems is seeking an individual that is highly motivated to join a team at the forefront of next-generation hypersonic capabilities.

At Northrop Grumman, our employees have incredible opportunities to work on revolutionary systems in air and space that impact people's lives around the world today, and for generations to come. Our work preserves freedom, democracy, and advances human discovery and our understanding of the universe. We look for people who have bold new ideas, courage and a pioneering spirit to join forces to invent the future and have a lot of fun along the way.

Our culture thrives on intellectual curiosity, cognitive diversity and bringing your whole self to work - and we have an insatiable drive to do what others think is impossible. Our employees are not only part of history, they're making history.

The Flight Systems Futures operating unit within Strategic Deterrent Systems is seeking an individual that is highly motivated to join a team at the forefront of next-generation hypersonic capabilities. Our team focuses on the design, development, and demonstration of hypersonic re-entry vehicles and advanced payloads, with an emphasis on rapid development and prototyping aligned to specific customer missions. This role will be the aerothermal lead on one of our upcoming hypersonic programs located in Roy, UT.

This role may offer a competitive relocation assistance package.

Responsibilities include:

• Develop and maintain the aeroheating and thermal environment definition for the system and key subsystems (TPS, structures, avionics, sensors).
• Generate heating maps, thermal loads, and margin assessments across the flight envelope (boost, cruise, reentry, etc.).
• Define worst-case and design-to conditions (e.g., hot/cold cases, off-nominal trajectories, abort scenarios).
• Plan and execute CFD and aerothermal analysis campaigns for different configurations and flight regimes.
• Lead technical trades (e.g., nose shape, leading edge concepts, material selections, TPS architectures) using aerothermal results.
• Evaluate design changes and configuration updates for impact on heating, thermal margins, and performance.
• Work closely with TPS and structural teams to translate aeroheating predictions into design loads and requirements.
• Provide aerothermal input to systems engineering for requirements allocation, verification approaches, and margin policy.
• Support GNC and vehicle performance teams with aerothermal forces/torques or constraints where relevant (e.g., trim, cont rollability limits due to heating).

As a full-time employee of Northrop Grumman, you are eligible for our robust benefits package including:

• Medical, Dental & Vision coverage
• 401k
• Educational Assistance
• Life Insurance
• Employee Assistance Programs & Work/Life Solutions
• Paid Time Off
• Health & Wellness Resources
• Employee Discounts

This positions standard work schedule is a 9/80. The 9/80 schedule allows employees who work a nine-hour day Monday through Thursday to take every other Friday off.

Required qualifications include:

• Bachelor's degree in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) with 12 years of experience; or Master's degree with 10 years of experience; or PhD with 8 years of experience.
• US Citizenship with Active DoD Secret clearance with a reinvestigation date occurring in the last 6 years.
• Ability to obtain Top Secret (TS) clearance.
• 5+ years of relevant experience in aerothermodynamics, thermal analysis, or high-speed aerodynamics (hypersonics strongly preferred).
• Hands-on experience with CFD tools for high-speed flow (e.g., ANSYS Fluent/CFX, STAR-CCM+, US3D, CFD++ or similar).
• Experience performing coupled aeroheating and thermal protection system (TPS) analyses for high-speed or reentry vehicles.
• Demonstrated ability to develop, execute, and document analysis plans (loads/thermal environments, heating predictions, thermal margins).
• Proficiency in at least one scripting or analysis language (e.g., Python, MATLAB, Fortran, C/C++) for data processing and tool automation.
• Experience leading technical trades and presenting results to internal stakeholders (design, structures, systems engineering).
• Strong written and verbal communication; ability to produce clear technical documentation and present to senior leadership and customers.

Preferred qualifications include:

• Direct experience on hypersonic vehicle programs (boost-glide, cruise missiles, reentry vehicles, or similar).
• Experience defining and validating aeroheating environments for system- and subsystem-level requirements (e.g., TPS, structures, GNC, sensors).
• Background in high-temperature materials, TPS design, or thermal-structural interaction for high-speed flight.
• Experience with wind tunnel testing, flight test data analysis, or correlation of CFD/analysis results to test data.
• Familiarity with non-equilibrium chemistry, high-enthalpy flow modeling, and radiation/ablation modeling for hypersonic…