Junior Researcher in Green Aircraft Design

This position seeks a junior researcher to design a regional turboprop that may serve as a reference platform for the project DEMOQUAS. The aircraft shall integrate hybrid-electric propulsion systems.

Job description
The continuous enhancement of the design and operation of integrated green propulsion systems requires the parallel development of procedures ensuring the highest safety standards and effective risk management. The digitalization of design and operations is based on mathematical modeling and knowledge-based engineering using different data formats (structured and unstructured) to share data. In this direction, a major challenge is capturing and managing safety-critical uncertainties throughout the product lifecycle. This becomes especially complex when integrating models with different levels of accuracy, as there is limited evidence from both computational models and experimental data to predict the effects of uncertainty propagation.

The project DEMOQUAS is a European research initiative dedicated to enhancing aviation safety by creating reliable and accurate UQ frameworks that reduce risks associated with new technologies. The focus of this action is the integration of new propulsion technologies in the aviation product lifecycle. For this purpose, the consortium identified six industrially relevant test cases to apply the outcomes of this project. Among them, the design of a regional turboprop platform similar to the ATR-72 has been selected.

This position seeks a junior researcher who may support the DEMOQUAS project by designing a reference platform similar to the ATR-72. The design activities shall include a preliminary phase to validate the design methodologies by comparing the reference platform with the baseline chosen. Following the validation, the researcher shall design a hybrid-electric regional turboprop based on the same performance and top-level requirements of the baseline. The platform will be designed according to the assumptions made by the consortium concerning the enabling technologies. The hybrid-electric propulsive system will be designed according to the methodologies at state of the art, integrating system models and data, when provided by the partners.

The research activities will encompass several phases of the design process scaling the fidelity level of the designed aircraft and system models.

Potentially, the design process may be required to include the quantification of epistemic uncertainties from the integrated models and their propagation at aircraft level.

Requirements

• Familiar with challenges and benefits of hydrogen propulsion in aviation from both design and operations points of view.
• Strong expertise with programming in MATLAB or Python.
• Strong knoweledge and expertise in conceptual and preliminary design of green aircraft integrating both hydrogen and batteries.
• A solid background in unconventional aircraft design methodologies for the ecological transition, with a strong interest in combining aircraft design with digital modeling.
• Familiar with the concepts of uncertainty quantification and propagation.
• A team-oriented mindset, eager to collaborate with researchers and industry experts.
• Excellent spoken and written English communication skills.

TU Delft
Delft University of Technology is built on strong foundations. As creators of the world-famous Dutch waterworks and pioneers in biotech, TU Delft is a top international university combining science, engineering and design. It delivers world class results in education, research and innovation to address challenges in the areas of energy, climate, mobility, health and digital society. For generations, our engineers have proven to be entrepreneurial problem-solvers, both in business and in a social context.

At TU Delft we embrace diversity as one of our core values and we actively engage to be a university where you feel at home and can flourish. We value different perspectives and qualities. We believe this makes our work more innovative, the TU Delft community more vibrant and the world more just. Together, we imagine, invent and create solutions using technology to have a positive impact on a global scale. That is why we invite you to apply. Your application will receive fair consideration.

Challenge. Change. Impact!

Faculty Aerospace Engineering
The Faculty of Aerospace Engineering at Delft University of Technology is one of the world’s most highly ranked (and most comprehensive) research, education and innovation communities devoted entirely to aerospace engineering. More than 200 science staff, around 270 PhD candidates and close to 3000 BSc and MSc students apply aerospace engineering disciplines to address the global societal challenges that threaten us today, climate change without doubt being the most important. Our focal subjects: sustainable aerospace, big data and artificial intelligence, bio-inspired engineering and smart instruments and systems. Working at the faculty means working together. With partners in other faculties, knowledge institutes, governments and industry, both aerospace and non-aerospace. Working in field labs and innovation hubs on our university campus and beyond.

Click here to go to the website of the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering.

Conditions of employment

• Duration of contract is 9 months Temporary
• A job of 40 hours per week.
• A salary based on Schaal 10 of the CAO for Dutch Universities with a salary between €3378 - €5331 gross per month based on a fulltime contract (38 hours), plus 8% holiday allowance and an end-of-year bonus of 8.3%.
• An excellent pension scheme via the ABP.
• The possibility to compile an individual employment package every year.
• Discount with health insurers on supplemental packages.
• Flexible working week.
• Every year, 232 leave hours (at 38 hours). You can also sell or buy additional leave hours via the individual choice budget.
• Plenty of opportunities for education, training and courses.
• Partially paid parental leave
• Attention for working healthy and energetically with the vitality program.

Additional information
If you would like more information about this vacancy or the selection procedure, please contact Prof. Dr. Arvind Gangoli Rao, via A.GangoliRao@tudelft.nl or Dr. Francesco Orefice via F.Orefice-1@tudelft.nl.

Application procedure
Are you interested in this vacancy? Please apply no later than 23 April 2025 via the application button and upload the following documents:

• CV
• Motivational letter

You can address your application to Prof. Dr. Arvind Gangoli Rao.

Please note:

• You can apply online. We will not process applications sent by email and/or post.
• A pre-employment screening can be part of the selection procedure.
• For the final candidates, a knowledge security check will be part of the application procedure. For more information on this check, please consult Chapter 8 of the National Knowledge Security Guidelines. We carry out this check on the basis of legitimate interest.
• Please do not contact us for unsolicited services.

40 hours per week

Mekelweg 5