The Role

Mach Industries is seeking a Senior Conceptual Design Engineer, Advanced Concepts to lead conceptual design of hypersonic and high-speed atmospheric vehicles from mission requirements through preliminary design. You will drive vehicle architecture recommendations, develop configuration baselines, perform first-order sizing, and guide multidisciplinary trades where aerodynamic heating, thermal protection, and propulsion integration fundamentally shape the design space.

You will work closely with Aerodynamics and Aerothermal engineers, who own the detailed CFD and aerothermal analysis, and decide how their results reshape the concept. You will also define requirements and validation needs for conceptual sizing and MDAO models in partnership with the MDAO team. This is a new capability at Mach Industries; you will guide early technical direction and shape how the company approaches advanced concept development from first sketch through hardware.

This role is part of Conceptual Design within Mach's Vehicle Design and Performance organization, alongside MDAO and Operational Performance. Conceptual Design creates, MDAO enables, and Operational Performance assesses. You will interact with every relevant engineering department across the organization, and the work will move quickly from concept exploration and architecture trades into prototyping and vehicle development.

Key Responsibilities

This is a hands-on technical design role, not a proposal-writing or program-management position. You will drive vehicle-level architecture recommendations while going deep into specific subsystems (aerodynamics, propulsion, thermal, structures) as needed to close trades. As a small team, roles overlap and boundaries stay flexible; you should expect to work closely with MDAO engineers and Air Vehicle Design Engineers.

• Translate hypersonic vehicle mission requirements into configuration baselines and first-order sizing (mass, volume, aerodynamic performance, propulsion match, range, payload, and speed)
• Perform trajectory- and mission-coupled concept trades, closing multidisciplinary trades across aerodynamics, propulsion, structures, thermal and TPS mass budgets, manufacturability, and mission effectiveness.
• Assess architectural alternatives, identify early technical risks and retirement paths, and present trade studies and recommendations that drive vehicle-level decisions.
• Define requirements and validation needs for MDAO and conceptual sizing models used in hypersonic concept design; partner with the MDAO team to keep models decision-relevant.
• Apply engineering-fidelity aerodynamic and configuration methods (for example Missile DATCOM, OpenVSP, panel or vortex methods, and surrogate models) and judge when higher-fidelity discipline results should change the concept.
• Develop conceptual-level CAD geometry and outer mold line layouts to mature concepts toward preliminary design, collaborating with Air Vehicle Design Engineers as designs progress.
• Mentor junior conceptual designers and raise the bar on early-design rigor and engineering judgment.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related engineering discipline.
• 7+ years of experience in aerospace vehicle design, conceptual design, or related advanced aerospace development.
• Demonstrated experience in hypersonic or high-speed atmospheric conceptual design across multiple vehicle programs, including configuration development, vehicle sizing, and architecture-level trades.
• Strong working understanding of vehicle performance, aerodynamics, propulsion integration, structures, mass properties, aerothermal tradeoffs, and multidisciplinary design at conceptual and preliminary design fidelity.
• Demonstrated ability to close competing system requirements into vehicle architecture recommendations.
• Strong communication skills and ability to collaborate across multidisciplinary engineering teams.
• Ability to mentor junior conceptual designers and raise the bar on early-design rigor and engineering judgment.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's or Ph.D. degree with focus in hypersonics, vehicle design, or a closely related field.
• Experience developing and applying MDAO methods and workflows in conceptual design, including hands-on sizing or trade-study scripting (MATLAB, Python, or similar).
• Depth in planform and outer mold line concept development, packaging (propulsion, payload, GNC, fuel or propellant), and propulsion/airframe integration at the concept level.
• Experience supporting prototype development or flight testing of a high-speed vehicle.
• Familiarity with CAD tools such as NX, CATIA, or Creo.
• Experience with low-observable vehicle design, signature-aware configuration, or survivability-informed trades.

Additional Requirements