Mechanical Engineer - Turbomachinery

Company Overview:

 

Imagine a piloted air taxi that takes off vertically, then quietly carries you and your fellow passengers over the congested city streets below, enabling you to spend more time with the people and places that matter most. At Joby, we've been working to make that dream a reality since 2009 and we're now in the final stages of certifying our aircraft with the FAA. With plans to launch our aircraft in the US and Dubai, we're now scaling manufacturing and preparing for the launch of our commercial service.

Overview:

Joby Aviation is seeking an experienced mechanical/aerospace engineer with strong technical fundamentals, practical ability and problem-solving skills in turbomachinery aerodynamic & mechanical design & analysis to join our Powertrain team. As a key member of a high-performance team you will collaborate with your teammates by performing a wide variety of turbomachinery (compressor and turbine) aerodynamic and mechanical analyses and design to help them develop turbocompressors supplying pressurized air to hydrogen fuel cell systems that provide electrical power to aircraft propulsion systems. As part of a cross-functional team you will be responsible for ensuring the highest aerodynamic performance of our components with an emphasis on rapidly iterating through design/build/test cycles to achieve our ambitious performance and timing goals.

 

Responsibilities:

• Perform all the aerodynamic and mechanical analyses involved in developing turbocompressors for hydrogen fuel cell systems in support of team as we iterate through our designs
  • Aerodynamic for performance, mechanical for durability and reliability
  • Compressors and Turbines, Centrifugal/Radial & Axial, single-stage and multi-stage
    • Occasionally could include liquid pumps, fans/blowers and/or fluids different than air
  • 1D & 2D Mean-line Codes and hand-calcs, 3D CFD & FEA
    • Using commercial software CAE tools as well as building your own tools as needed
• Perform preliminary 3D CAD design work as needed to support your analyses
• Collaborate with teammates who are all-around mechanical engineers to ensure that their sub-systems and components are aerodynamically optimized by providing them with the best aero-mech analysis & design support possible
• Support your teammates in testing prototypes, including designing and building required testing fixtures & setups as well as instrumentation, data acquisition and reporting
• Actively support testing of higher-level systems, up to and including aircraft flight testing

Required:

• B.S. in Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering (or equivalent) and 5+ years of experience, OR Advanced degree and 3+ years of experience
• Experience performing aerodynamic & thermo-mechanical design and analysis of turbomachinery
• Excellent problem solving & communication skills
• Practical hands-on experience building & aerodynamically testing new turbomachines
• Participation in a full product/system development cycle
• High skill level in relevant CAE (FEA, CFD, engineering programming, Matlab/Simulink)
• Basic 3D CAD skills

 

Desired:

• M.S. or Ph.D. in Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering (or equivalent)
• Experience working with different fluids in addition to air (e.g. refrigerants, liquid coolants, cryogenics), including “2 Phase” flows
• Experience working on small fast-paced independent teams

Additional Information: