Facility Performance Engineer - Flight

Facility Performance Engineer – Flight

Location:

Arnold AFB, TN

Beyond New Horizons, LLC (BNH) has an exciting opportunity for a Facility Performance Engineer supporting the Test Operations and Sustainment contract at Arnold Engineering Development Complex at Arnold Air Force Base, TN in our wind tunnel branch. The Facility Performance Engineer will be working as a member of an integrated team responsible for operating and maintaining ground test facilities in support of the United States Air Force Test Operations and Sustainment efforts.

Open to INTERNAL candidates only

A Facility Performance Engineer for the Flight Branch Wind Tunnel Ground Test Facilities at the Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC) plays a vital role in ensuring that some of the world’s most sophisticated ground‑test infrastructure operates at peak performance. Because these facilities must simulate extreme flight conditions—from subsonic speeds to hypersonic velocities exceeding Mach 12—the engineering behind the facilities themselves is incredibly complex.

Rather than focusing on the test article being tested, a Facility Performance Engineer focuses on the wind tunnel itself as a high‑performance system. The expectation is that the person in this role will become the expert in performance and operability of wind tunnel ground test facilities.

• Facility Modeling & Simulation – Work with the Engineering Solutions team to develop and refine physics and statistically‑based, thermodynamic and fluid dynamic computer models to analyze, predict and report how the tunnel, nozzle, diffuser, and air‑supply systems behave under extreme test conditions.
• Operational Optimization – Analyze test configurations to maximize run time, minimize the immense energy and utility footprints of the facilities, and establish optimal operating envelopes.
• Flow Quality & Characterization – Ensure the wind tunnel’s test sections achieve well‑understood, highly uniform and precise flight conditions (such as specific Mach numbers, Reynolds numbers, temperatures, and pressures).
• Analysis & Trending – Conduct post‑test data analysis and trending of facility operation and performance data to detect or characterize degradation in performance or other facility‑induced anomalies. Provide requirements for instrumentation upgrades, data collection improvements, or other modifications to obtain the data required to perform the analyses and trending.
• Sustainment & Modernization – Identify technical deficiencies in the facility, conduct durability analyses on critical hardware (like nozzle throat materials or compressor blades) and champion efforts for system upgrades. Provide inputs and support requirements for development of facility upgrades, capital projects, and equipment upgrades that affect the wind tunnel as a high‑performance system. Provide independent analysis of proposed designs and configuration changes that affect the wind tunnel as a high‑performance system.
  
  Develop a strategic roadmap for the Wind Tunnel Ground Test Facilities that lays out a technology‑based pathway to ensure the current wind tunnels or future wind tunnel designs can accommodate future customer technologies.
• It is the condition of employment to wear company issued PPE in accordance with supervisory direction and company policy.
• Perform other related duties as required.

• BS degree in aerospace or mechanical engineering from an accredited college or university.
• L07:
  Minimum of 4 years of engineering experience in at least one wind tunnel facility.
• L08:
  Minimum of 5 years of engineering experience in at least one wind tunnel facility.
• Must be able to maintain security clearance and the AEDC local area network.
• Due to Air Force Security requirements, U.S. Citizenship is required for employment at AEDC.

• Exhibits strong level of technical curiosity and desire to seek insight and understanding.
• Demonstrated proactiveness and initiative to drive to results.
• Strong foundational understanding of compressible fluid dynamics, thermodynamics, and heat transfer.
• Capability of conducting post‑event data analysis, performance trending, and…