Fluid Dynamicist

About this role

About the Company

We are a renewable energy and ocean technology company committed to rapidly developing and deploying technologies that will ensure a sustainable future for Earth by unlocking the vast energy potential of its oceans. Our focus is on capturing civilizational levels of ultra-low-cost renewable energy for applications including computing and affordable renewable fuels delivered to shore.

The company is a public benefit corporation headquartered in Portland, Oregon and backed by leading venture capitalists, philanthropic investors, university endowments, and private investment offices. We operate as an idea meritocracy in which the best ideas change the company’s direction on a regular basis.

About the Job

As a Fluid Dynamicist, you will help develop, validate, and apply the fast-running physics-based tools that drive Panthalassa’s design, optimization, and fleet deployment decisions. You will work with our Principal Fluid Dynamicist and collaborate closely with computational fluid dynamics (CFD), controls, optimization, mechanical engineering, metocean, and fleet performance teams.

This role focuses on reduced-order and mid-fidelity marine hydrodynamics tools, including boundary element method (BEM) models, fleet deployment simulators, OrcaFlex models, metocean-driven performance analyses, and external-function links to our time-domain device simulators. You will write production-quality engineering code, run analyses, process results, communicate findings, debug model behavior, and identify opportunities to improve our fast-running simulation stack.

The ideal candidate has strong fundamentals in marine hydrodynamics, understands BEM concepts, is highly capable in Python, and can move fluidly between theory, code, simulation results, and engineering decisions. This person will independently own major modeling and simulation workstreams.

Candidates should have strong interpersonal skills and be able to thrive in a creative, scrappy, and collaborative environment in which the best ideas change the company’s direction on a regular basis. You will own your designs cradle-to-grave, from first concept through fabrication and deployment at sea. If you are an excellent engineer, regardless of your background, we want you to apply.

Responsibilities

• Develop, maintain, validate, and apply fast-running hydrodynamics models used for design, optimization, controls, and fleet deployment analysis.

• Work with boundary element method models, reduced-order hydrodynamic models, fleet deployment simulators, and OrcaFlex models.

• Develop Python engineering tools to interface with modeling codes written in Julia and Python.

• Build and maintain external-function links, data interfaces, and workflow glue between hydrodynamics models, simulation tools, optimization pipelines, and analysis scripts.

• Run analyses using metocean reanalysis data, measured ocean data, sea-state statistics, wave spectra, current profiles, and other environmental inputs.

• Process, visualize, and interpret simulation results to evaluate power, propulsion, structural loading, motion, operability, survivability, and other performance metrics.

• Compare fast-running model outputs against CFD, experimental data, sea-trial data, OrcaFlex results, and higher-fidelity simulations.

• Identify and debug issues in hydrodynamic models, simulation workflows, input datasets, post-processing scripts, and coupled simulation interfaces.

• Collaborate within the CFD team to understand where high-fidelity results can improve reduced-order models and where reduced-order tools can guide CFD validation priorities.

• Collaborate with optimization and controls teams to ensure that fast-running tools are accurate, robust, and useful for design-space exploration and operational decision-making.

• Develop new analysis methods and identify additional uses for fast-running simulation tools across the company.

• Write clear documentation, technical notes, plots, and presentations that communicate methods, assumptions, results, limitations, and recommendations.

• Use modern software and AI-assisted development tools effectively to accelerate coding, debugging, analysis, and documentation while maintaining strong engineering judgment and code review discipline.

Required Qualifications

• Legal authorization to work in the United States.

• Bachelor’s degree in Ocean Engineering, Naval Architecture, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Physics, Applied Mathematics, or a similar field.

• Strong foundation in fluid mechanics, marine hydrodynamics, waves, rigid body dynamics, and physics-based modeling.

• Strong proficiency in Python for scientific computing, engineering analysis, data processing, and tool development.

• Understanding of boundary element method concepts and their application to marine hydrodynamics.

• Ability to run simulations, process results, identify anomalies, debug issues, and communicate findings clearly.

• Experience with numerical modeling, reduced-order modeling, simulation tool development, or scientific software development.

• Working knowledge of Linux environments, Git-based workflows, and engineering software development practices.

• Ability to collaborate with CFD, controls, mechanical, software, metocean, and test teams to resolve modeling and simulation issues.

• Strong written and verbal communication skills.

• Strong first-principles engineering judgment and the ability to understand model assumptions, limitations, and appropriate use cases.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s or PhD in Ocean Engineering, Naval Architecture, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Physics, Applied Mathematics, or a similar field.

• Experience with frequency-domain and/or time-domain BEM methods.

• Experience with OrcaFlex, WAMIT, Capytaine, Nemoh, AQWA, or similar hydrodynamic modeling tools.

• Experience linking external functions, plugins, or custom models into larger simulatio

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