Turbomachinery Aerodynamicist

Karman Industries Karman Industries is a Torrance-based thermal technology company building the backbone for giga-scale AI infrastructure. Founded by a team from SpaceX, Rocket Lab, and GE, Karman is moving beyond legacy cooling with the launch of the HPU (Heat Processing Unit)—a new category of thermal architecture designed for the 100kW+ rack era.

The HPU shrinks the exterior mechanical yard by up to 80% while reducing peak energy consumption by 10%+. Unlike traditional systems, the Karman HPU provides zero-water (WUE 0) cooling that ensures high-TDP GPUs and HBM4 memory stay at optimal thermal setpoints without throttling. Founded in 2024, we’re a fast-growing team of passionate professionals dedicated to making a tangible impact on the future of humanity.

We design, build, and test real hardware, and we lead with ownership: you’ll own your work from concept to hardware and help shape how we scale. Our values are Ownership, Performance Excellence, Radical Transparency, and Customer-Centricity. Join us in our mission to transform the industry and contribute to a more sustainable world.

Turbomachinery Aerodynamicist Karman Industries is seeking a highly skilled Turbomachinery Aerodynamicist to join our talented engineering team. This role focuses on aerodynamic design, analysis, and performance modeling of centrifugal impellers and associated components (diffusers, seals, etc.) for high-speed turbomachinery systems.

The ideal candidate has experience designing state-of-the-art compression and expansion stages, with a strong foundation in thermodynamics and fluid mechanics, expertise in CFD analysis, and experience developing 1D mean-line performance models in modern programming environments, including surge and stall margin prediction.

Responsibilities

• Design and optimize compressor impellers, diffusers, and related flow paths to meet performance and operating range targets
• Perform CFD simulations for steady/unsteady flow
• Develop and maintain 1D mean-line performance models
• Automate performance evaluation and design optimization workflows
• Support testing to validate aerodynamic and mechanical performance
• Correlate experimental results with analytical predictions to continuously improve design tools and modeling processes for improved accuracy and efficiency
• Work closely with the mechanical design team to ensure structural integrity and manufacturability of impeller and associated components
• Work in a collaborative environment to ensure a stable codebase using Git workflows Required Qualifications:
• Bachelor's in Aerospace or Mechanical Engineering (or related field); M.S. or Ph.D. preferred
• Strong fundamentals in thermodynamics and fluid mechanics, especially compressible flow
• Experience with design, analysis, and performance map modeling of centrifugal compressors in high-speed turbomachinery
• Ability to write 1D mean-line performance models in modern programming languages and integrate third party APIs and libraries
• Proficient with CFD tools (ANSYS CFX preferred) and CAD (NX preferred) - 3+ years in turbomachinery aerodynamic design Desired Skills and Experience:
• Familiarity with multi-stage compressor systems and system-level simulation and integration
• Ability to own mechanical analysis and optimization of aerodynamic components
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with a first-principles, physics-based approach
• Ability to interpret complex flow fields and system-level interactions
• Excellent communication skills and ability to work cross-functionally
• Familiarity designing compression or expansion systems with supercritical or transcritical carbon dioxide as the working fluid Karman Industries is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Karman Industries is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status. Direct applicants only — we are not working with outside recruiters or agencies for this role.