Director of Aerodynamics

About American Turbines

The power grid was built for a world that no longer exists. Centralized generation, hundred-mile transmission lines, decade-long permitting cycles. Meanwhile, demand is exploding: AI data centers, industrial electrification, remote operations that need megawatts yesterday and can't wait for utilities to catch up.

American Turbines is designing small modular gas turbines, purpose-built for distributed power generation. Machines designed from a blank sheet to be manufactured at scale, clustered in arrays. Hundreds of units operating in parallel, dynamically matching load like a compute cluster matches demand. We are a seed-stage company backed by the investors behind SpaceX, Boom Supersonic, and Hadrian.

About the Role

The Aerodynamics Engineer will own the aerodynamic design of both the compressor and turbine stages, from meanline modeling through detailed 3D blade shaping and test correlation. You will directly determine the efficiency, stability, and operating range of the machine.

You will define the flow path architecture, set the stage count, and design the blade profiles that make this turbine produce power. You will run the CFD, interpret the results, and make the calls on when the design is good enough to cut metal. When hardware comes back from the shop, you will instrument it, run it, and close the loop between prediction and measurement.

What We’re Looking For

Experience in turbomachinery aerodynamic design, ideally across both compressor and turbine stages. Proficiency with meanline and throughflow tools, 3D CFD (ANSYS CFX, Numeca, or equivalent), and blade parametric design. Familiarity with small gas turbines, turbochargers, or turboshaft engines is strongly preferred.

You understand the tradeoffs between efficiency, surge margin, and manufacturability. You can move fast between conceptual sizing and detailed design without losing rigor. You've seen hardware run and know what CFD gets right and what it gets wrong.