Phd Cfd Computational Engineer Jobs in Washington

Xometry is seeking a Principal Computational Engineer to set the multi-year technical direction for our 3D geometry and Design for Manufacturability (DFM) platform. You will be the senior individual contributor in this domain, owning the architecture that turns every customer-uploaded CAD model into a manufacturable, priced, and routed part across CNC, sheet metal, additive, injection molding, casting, and finishing processes. This role also serves as the technical architect for one of Xometry's highest-leverage strategic initiatives: the embedded DFM AI + IQE integration with our partner. You will lead the integration of Xometry's proprietary computational geometry and AI directly into the partner's industrial software ecosystem - including Solid Edge, NX, Designcenter, and Teamcenter - integrated within the native DesignCenter environment to deliver real-time manufacturability feedback and pricing insights. The goal is a "science fiction speed" design-to-source digital thread from ideation to physical parts, with no export, no round-trip, and no translation loss. This is a hands-on role. You will write production C++ and Python that ships to millions of quotes per year, define the kernel and toolchain strategy, publish or patent novel methods where they create durable advantage, and raise the technical bar of the team through mentorship, design review, and hiring. The role requires demonstrated mastery of computational geometry, geometric modeling kernels, and the messy reality of consuming arbitrary customer CAD - STEP, IGES, X_T, JT, SLDPRT, CATPart, and DXF - at scale.

How You'll Contribute:

• Technical Vision & Roadmap: Own and drive a multi-year technical roadmap for Xometry's geometric reasoning stack - B-Rep ingestion and healing, feature recognition, DFM analysis, sub-process routing, geometric pricing signals, and downstream CAM/CAE integration - balancing research ambition with disciplined business value delivery
• Partnership Integration (DFM AI + IQE): Serve as the technical architect for the embedded DFM AI + IQE track inside the partner's ecosystem. Lead the integration of Xometry's geometric and AI capabilities directly into Solid Edge, NX, Designcenter, and Teamcenter, operating directly on native 3D geometry through the Parasolid kernel. Define the integration architecture, the geometry contract between the two systems, the precision and latency budgets required for in-CAD real-time feedback, and the long-term roadmap for an end-to-end digital thread from designer intent to manufactured part
• Geometric Kernel Architecture: Architect and personally implement the hardest components of the geometric kernel layer - robust intersection, offset, Boolean, projection, and trimming operations on NURBS curves and surfaces - plus the resilience layer that absorbs malformed CAD that arrives in the wild. Establish precision, robustness, and performance contracts (floating-point error budgets, predicate selection, tolerancing, numerical stability) that the rest of engineering builds on top of
• DFM & Sub-Process Intelligence: Drive the methodology for combining classical computational geometry (B-Rep traversal, parametric surface analysis, medial axis, geodesic distance, curvature analysis) with modern learning-based approaches (graph neural networks on B-Reps, point-cloud and voxel encoders, differentiable geometry, neural implicit representations) to detect manufacturability risk across 12+ CNC sub-processes and the broader process catalog
• Research-to-Production Translation: Translate research from computational geometry, computer-aided geometric design, and computational fabrication into shipped systems. Publish, patent, or open-source where doing so strengthens recruiting, partnerships, or the platform itself
• Technical Leadership & Standards: Provide technical leadership across geometry, ML, and platform teams. Lead design reviews, define the technical interview bar, and partner with engineering leadership on hiring, calibration, and IC-track career progression. Mentor Staff, Senior, and mid-level engineers
• Cross-Functional Leadership: Partner with Product, Manufacturing Engineering, Pricing, and Operations leadership to translate business outcomes (margin, lead time, yield, defect rate) into precisely specified geometric and algorithmic problems. Influence roadmaps, priorities, and resourcing across partner teams
• External Representation: Represent Xometry externally - conferences, standards bodies, academic collaborations, technical reviews, and customer engagements - as the recognized technical authority for our DFM and geometry platform

What You'll Bring to Xometry:

• Experience & Education: M.S. or PhD in applied mathematics, computer science, mechanical engineering, computational physics, or a closely related field. Typically 12+ years of progressive experience applying computational methods to geometry, CAD/CAE, or simulation problems, with a demonstrable record of shipped algorithms in commercial or production systems. PhD with 8+ years of relevant industry experience is equivalent
• Geometric Modeling Mastery: Deep expertise across the geometric modeling stack - analytical geometry, parametric and free-form geometry (NURBS, etc.), trimmed surfaces, B-Rep topology, geometry healing and repair, robust predicates, and high-performance spatial data structures
• Kernel & CAD Interoperability: Hands-on experience with one or more commercial or open geometric kernels - Parasolid, ACIS, CGM, Granite, ShapeManager, Open CASCADE / pythonOCC - including a working understanding of where each kernel fails on real-world inputs and how to compensate. Strong working knowledge of CAD interchange and translation: STEP (AP203/AP214/AP242), IGES, JT, Parasolid XT, native CATIA / NX / Creo / SolidWorks formats, DXF, and HOOPS Exchange / PRC.
• Technical Mastery: Expert-level C++ (C++14/17/20) with modern build systems (CMake), debugging (GDB, sanitizers), profiling, and binding generation (SWIG, pybind11). Strong Python for tooling, prototyping, and ML integration. Comfort with cloud platforms (AWS) for large-scale geometry processing and model training. Experiences or exposures of using code generation tools (e.g. Claude) with geometry engines. Ability to work in a large computational geometry codebase involving C++ and Python (numpy, numba) code.
• Mathematical Rigor: Rigorous grounding in linear algebra, multivariable and differential calculus, numerical methods, differential equations, and floating-point error analysis. Comfort with differential geometry and topology as it applies to surface and curve modeling
• Recognized Track Record: Demonstrable record of research-to-production translation: peer-reviewed publications, issued patents, significant open-source contributions, or shipped commercial capabilities that you can point to and explain end-to-end
• AI/ML Fluency: Familiarity with ML/AI methods relevant to geometry - graph neural networks on B-Reps (BRepGAT, BRepFormer, AAGNet, UV-Net), point-cloud / voxel / SDF encoders, neural implicit representations, NURBS-aware learning - and clear judgment about when classical methods beat learned ones
• Manufacturing Domain Fluency: Familiarity with industry standards (ISO, ASME Y14.5, GD&T) and a working command of manufacturing processes (subtractive, additive, formative, finishing) and materials science sufficient to converse credibly with senior manufacturing engineers and partner engineers
• Leadership: Track record of mentoring and elevating Staff- and Senior-level engineers. Able to set technical direction by influence rather than mandate, and to align executives and cross-functional partners around ambitious scientific directions
• ITAR Compliance: Must be a US Citizen or Green Card holder (ITAR)

Qualifications:

• Partner Ecosystem Experience: Prior development experience inside the partner's stack - Parasolid kernel programming, NX Open / NX Customization, Solid Edge API, Teamcenter integration, or Designcenter / Mendix-based workflow development
• Published Research: PhD with a published thesis or sustained publication record in computational geometry, geometric modeling, computer-aided geometric design (CAGD), computational fabrication, isogeometric analysis, or computational dynamics
• Open-Source Authorship: Authorship of, or substantial contribution to, a recognized open-source geometric modeling library, kernel, or framework (e.g., NURBS / B-spline
  modeling frameworks, mesh generation toolkits, CAD interoperability libraries)
• Industry Pedigree: Experience inside a CAD vendor, kernel vendor, simulation vendor, or vertically integrated manufacturing platform - Dassault Systemes, PTC, Autodesk, Onshape, Shapr3D, ANSYS, Altair, Desktop Metal, Markforged, Align Technology, ConforMIS, or comparable
• Scale: Designed and operated geometry algorithms at large scale - cloud compute, distributed geometry processing, GPU-accelerated computational geometry, parallel meshing, or geometry serving behind a real-time API
• Hiring & Calibration: Experience hiring, calibrating, and growing computational-geometry talent - a domain where the global talent pool is small and the hiring bar is notoriously difficult to set

What Success Looks Like in 12 Months:

• The Partner DFM AI + IQE integration is in production inside the partner's ecosystem with measurable adoption, in-CAD latency contracts being met, and a clear roadmap for expanding the digital thread across additional processes and partner surfaces. 
• The geometric reasoning stack has a coherent, documented architecture with explicit precision, robustness, and latency contracts; new sub-processes and DFM rules plug in without bespoke rewrites
• DFM coverage spans 12+ CNC sub-processes plus the broader process catalog, with per-sub-process precision/recall measured and on a known improvement trajector. 
• At least one piece of methodology has been published, patented, or open-sourced in a way that strengthens Xometry's recruiting and external technical brand
• Two to three Staff and Senior engineers can credibly cite you as the reason they leveled up

The estimated base salary range for new hires into this role is $200,000-$230,000.00 annually + bonus depending on factors such as job-related skills, relevant experience, and location. We also offer a competitive benefits package, including 401(k) match, medical, dental and vision insurance; life and disability insurance; generous paid time off including vacation, sick leave, floating and fixed holidays, maternity and bonding leave; EAP, other wellbeing resources; and much more.

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