Turbomachinery Engineer - Micro Turbojet Engines

About the role

Kepler Aviation develops micro turbojet engines in Düzce, Turkey. This full-time, on-site role covers the rotating heart of the engine: centrifugal compressor, diffuser, turbine stage and the spool that carries them. You will design, analyse, balance and test the components, reporting to the Propulsion Lead.

Key responsibilities

• Perform 1D meanline sizing, thermodynamic cycle matching and 2D/3D blade passage design for centrifugal compressors and axial or radial turbine stages
• Design and optimise vaned and vaneless diffusers, crossover passages and turbine nozzles for efficiency and wide surge and stall margins
• Run 3D RANS CFD of compressible turbomachinery flow (ANSYS CFX, Fluent or Star-CCM+)
• Carry out rotordynamic analysis: critical speeds, Campbell diagrams, lateral and torsional stability, bearing loads
• Perform precision dynamic balancing of impellers, shafts, turbine wheels and the assembled rotor
• Run structural, centrifugal stress, thermal and high-cycle fatigue FEA on impellers and turbine blisks (ANSYS Mechanical, Siemens NX)
• Analyse turbine thermal management, including cooling passages and loss reduction on turbine vanes
• Integrate the spool with the combustor liner, fuel nozzles and bearing lubrication and cooling circuits
• Support commissioning and testing on the turbojet test bench and turn vibration, pressure, temperature and speed data into validated performance maps

Required profile

• Bachelor's degree in Aerospace or Mechanical Engineering with a specialisation in turbomachinery, gas turbines or propulsion; Master's or PhD preferred
• Proven background in gas turbine architecture, centrifugal compressor performance maps and turbine stage design
• Fluent technical English, reading and writing
• Based in Düzce or willing to relocate
• Preferred: hands-on turbojet hardware experience, peer-reviewed publications, and experience with turbine cascade testing, film cooling analysis or gas turbine test bench operation

Required skills

• 3D compressible CFD: ANSYS CFX, Fluent or Star-CCM+
• Blade design and sizing tools: MULTALL, AxSTREAM, ANSYS Vista CCD, BladeGen or TurboGrid
• CAD and FEA: Siemens NX, ANSYS Mechanical
• Python, MATLAB or FORTRAN for cycle analysis and performance scripts
• Dynamic balancing of high-speed rotating assemblies and bearing selection