Turbomachinery Performance & Aerodynamics Engineer

Turbomachinery Performance & Aerodynamics Engineer

Fixed-Term Contract

Elemeca is seeking a Turbomachinery Performance & Aerodynamic Design Engineer to support the design, aerodynamic definition and performance matching of turbomachinery.

This is a focused, fast-moving development environment. You will be expected to move from first principles and incomplete inputs to practical, traceable engineering decisions; use/build cycle and meanline definitions; generate and use component maps; identify risks early; and communicate clearly enough for the programme to move quickly.

We are looking for an engineer who can reduce a problem to first principles, use a hand calculation or simple model when that is enough, and deploy CFD, detailed simulation, or testing only when it will materially improve the decision - at pace.

What you will do

• Build and maintain design-point and off-design cycle models, and own compressor and turbine work and flow matching across the operating range.
• Carry out preliminary and detailed aerodynamic design of the compressor and turbine, from meanline and throughflow through to blade and passage geometry.
• Generate, scale, correct and interpret compressor and turbine maps, including surge and choke limits, running lines, and surge margin bookkeeping.
• Assess performance across start, idle, acceleration, design point and transient conditions.
• Perform and interpret CFD of rotating and stationary components, and reconcile CFD against meanline predictions and map data.
• Quantify leakage, secondary flow and size or scaling effects on efficiency and matching.
• Develop practical validation and rig or engine test plans, including instrumentation and data reduction.
• Communicate assumptions, risks, results and recommended design changes clearly.
• Right to work in the UK.
• Minimum two years of professional experience in turbomachinery performance and/or aerodynamic design, in industry or an equivalent funded programme setting.
• Sound overall understanding of the turbomachinery system as a whole, not only your own discipline, and how compressor, turbine, combustor, rotor, ducting and controls decisions affect each other.
• Demonstrable delivery of compressor and/or turbine performance, aerodynamic design or development work.
• Strong fundamentals in turbomachinery aerodynamics, thermodynamics, gas dynamics and loss mechanisms.
• Practical experience of compressor and turbine matching.
• Willingness to take on adjacent engineering tasks as the programme requires. This is a small agile team and the role will not stay neatly inside a single discipline boundary.
• Able to work in a fast-paced development environment, take ownership of ambiguous problems, and deliver clear, decision-ready outputs.
• Strong written and verbal communication, including explaining assumptions, uncertainty and trade-offs to a small multidisciplinary team.

Highly advantageous

• Experience with GasTurb, CFTurbo, Simerics, ANSYS Fluent or CFX, and OpenFOAM.
• Generating performance maps from CFD, and reconciling them with meanline or test data.
• Radial or mixed-flow compressors and radial or axial turbines.
• Turbochargers and small gas turbines experience.
• Experience with engine control options and how they interact with matching, for example fuel scheduling, acceleration limits, speed governing, start sequencing and surge avoidance.
• Mechanical integration constraints such as rotor stress, blade natural frequencies, rotordynamics, or design for additive manufacture.

Type of engagement

• Location and working arrangement: Cardiff (UK), Hybrid, Full remote
• Flexible to engagement type: fixed-term employment or consultancy via a personal service company, subject to role requirements, right-to-work checks, and employment-status / IR35 assessment where applicable.

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