Senior Propulsion Engineer - Combustion Devices (m/f/d)

The role

You will be a senior technical contributor responsible for high-fidelity combustion CFD and the physical understanding required to design, assess and mature liquid rocket engine combustion hardware. You will apply reactive-flow simulation, combustion fundamentals and test correlation to injectors, preburners, gas generators, ignition systems and main combustion chambers.

What you will do

• Own and execute CFD analyses of reacting flows in liquid rocket engine combustion devices
• Develop and apply premixed, partially premixed and non-premixed combustion models
• Perform steady and transient RANS/URANS and scale-resolving simulations
• Model injector and chamber flows including atomisation, evaporation and multiphase effects
• Assess combustion stability and operability
• Build robust CFD workflows in Simcenter STAR-CCM+ and Ansys Fluent
• Correlate simulations against component, cold-flow and hot-fire test data
• Translate CFD results into practical design decisions
• Work closely with design, thermal, structures, materials, test, engine systems and manufacturing teams
• Plan analysis and validation activities and contribute to technical reviews

Required qualifications

• MSc or PhD in aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, computational engineering or a comparable technical discipline
• Typically 5–10 years of professional experience in rocket propulsion
• Substantial hands-on responsibility for combustion CFD and combustion-device development
• Deep knowledge of fundamental combustion physics, chemical kinetics, flame structure, turbulence–chemistry interaction, ignition and extinction phenomena
• Demonstrated experience modelling reactive premixed and non-premixed flows under rocket-engine-relevant conditions
• Advanced proficiency in Simcenter STAR-CCM+ and/or Ansys Fluent
• Strong understanding of liquid rocket engine combustion devices
• Experience with CFD verification and validation, mesh and time-step sensitivity, uncertainty assessment and correlation to experimental or hot-fire data
• Proficiency in Python, MATLAB or a comparable language
• Strong technical ownership, first-principles judgement, clear communication and professional fluency in English

Nice to have

• Experience with LES or other scale-resolving methods
• Experience with spray combustion, atomisation, evaporation, real-fluid or real-gas thermodynamics, conjugate heat transfer, radiation or reacting multiphase flows
• Experience supporting rocket-engine hot-fire campaigns
• Experience developing custom models, user-defined functions, reduced chemical mechanisms, HPC workflows or automated CFD pipelines

Benefits

• Employee Participation Program: virtual company share program
• 30 days of vacation
• Company pension plan with 20% employer contribution after the probation period
• Subsidised lunch
• Rental clothing with laundry service
• Sport Clubs membership (EGYM Wellpass)
• Individual learning allowance granted after the probation period
• Childcare allowance for non-school-age children
• Flexible mobility budget including Deutschlandticket, JobRad bicycle leasing, FINN JobAuto, or a fuel allowance

Before you apply

• Due to security clearance requirements, affiliations with countries listed under § 13 para. 1 no. 17 SÜG may affect the application process

About the company

Isar Aerospace is a fast-growing company aiming to provide sustainable and environmentally friendly launch solutions for small and medium-sized satellites and constellations into Low Earth Orbit. They are building a modern space business to enable faster, better and cheaper access to space.