Sr. Simulation Engineer

Hayward Holdings Inc. (NYSE HAYW) is the largest manufacturer of residential swimming pool equipment in the world with a significant presence in the commercial pool market that is continuously growing. Hayward designs manufactures and markets a full line of residential and commercial pool and spa equipment including pumps filters heating cleaners salt chlorinators automation lighting safety flow control and energy solutions at our company-owned facilities. Headquartered in Charlotte North Carolina Hayward also has facilities in Tennessee Arizona and Rhode Island as well as Canada Spain France Australia and China.

The Senior Simulation Engineeris responsible fordriving Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis across Haywards product portfolio ensuring our pumps filters gas heaters and electronic enclosures meet performance efficiency and reliability targets through predictive simulation. Based in our Clemmons NC facility this role will provide strategic and hands-on technical competence for fluid thermal and multi-physics simulation activities spanning hydraulic turbomachinery gas combustion electronics cooling and system-level fluid dynamics.

The Senior Simulation Engineer will mentor junior engineers partner with design test and manufacturing teams and help shape Haywards simulation infrastructure and best practices. The ideal candidate will combine deep CFDexpertise particularly in rotating machinery and multiphase flow withstrong communication problem-solving and cross-functional collaboration skills to advance Haywards leadership in pool equipment innovation.

Strategic Responsibilities

• Lead CFD simulation strategy across Haywards product portfolio including residential and commercial pumps filters gas heaters robotic cleaners salt chlorinators and electronic control systems.
• Drive simulation-led design from concept through validation ensuring predictive analysis is embedded early in the product development process to reduce prototype cycles and accelerate time-to-market.
• Mentor and develop simulation and design engineers in CFD methodologies meshing best practices turbulence modeling and test correlation.
• Act as a technical advisor and subject matter expert to engineering leadershipidentifyingsimulation opportunities influencing product design decisions and advising on tradeoffs between hydraulic performance thermal management manufacturability and cost.
• Promote consistent continuous improvement of simulation practices tools scripting/automation libraries and documentation across Haywards global engineering sites.
• Evaluate and recommend new simulation software and computing infrastructure investments aligned with Haywards broad product portfolio rather than narrow specialty needs.

Technical and Operational Responsibilities

• Develop and execute CFD models for centrifugal pumps and hydraulic components including impeller and volute/diffuser analysis multiphase and cavitation prediction and efficiency optimization.
• Perform conjugate heat transfer (CHT) and reacting-flow simulations for gas heaters and electronics-cooling analyses for variable-speed drives and control electronics.
• Establish andmaintainmeshing turbulence-model and convergence best practices including y judgment MRF/sliding mesh setup for rotating machinery andappropriate useof RANS and (where justified) LES/DES approaches.
• Own the CFD-to-test correlation loop in partnership with the lab team including identifying root causes of simulationtest discrepancies and refining models accordingly.
• Develop scripting and automation workflows (Python Java macros) to standardize simulation pipelines run DOEs and design-optimizationstudies andimprove team productivity.
• Make effective use of high-performance simulation workstationsfor transient and large-scale cases.
• Engage in technical design reviews toidentifysimulation needs advise project teams on analysis strategies and contribute to product design decisions including a working sense of manufacturability and assembly so that simulation-driven design proposals are practical to implement.
• Author andmaintainsimulation process documentation procedures and training materials.
• Collaborate with the FEA MBD and 1D system-modeling activities as needed supporting structural thermal NVH and system-level analyses across the simulation team.

Education

• Bachelors degree in Mechanical EngineeringorAerospace Engineering. Masters degree preferred.

Experience

• 5 years of industrial CFD experience ideally withrotating-equipmentexposure.
• Proficiencywith a commercial CFD solver (Star-CCM Ansys Fluent or CFX).
• Demonstratedexpertisein turbulence modeling (RANS k-ω SST) meshing (structured and unstructured) MRF and sliding-mesh approaches for rotating machinery conjugate heat transfer and multiphase / cavitation modeling.
• Experience running CFD on high-performance simulation workstationsfor transient and large-scale cases.
• Scripting and automation experience (Python preferred; Java macros and MATLAB acceptable).
• Working knowledge of 3D CAD; SolidWorks preferred (NX or Creo acceptable).
• Demonstrated ownership of CFD-to-test correlation including lab and experimental validation.
• Experience leading or mentoring engineers.

Skills and Attributes (Nice to Have)

• Pump and hydraulic turbomachinery domain (strongly relevant):centrifugal pump impeller and volute/diffuser design experience; familiarity withpump-designtools such asAxSTREAMCFTurboBladeGen orTurboDesign.
• Adjacent product physics:combustion / reacting-flow simulation for gas heaters; electronics-cooling CFD using general-purpose solvers (Star-CCM or Fluent).
• Adjacent simulation:FEA structural and thermal (Ansys Mechanical Abaqus or equivalent); MBD for NVH (AdamsRecurdynSimpack or equivalent); FSI (fluidstructure interaction); 1D system modeling (DymolaAMESim GT-SuiteFlowmaster or equivalent).
• Other:awareness of design-for-manufacturing and design-for-assembly principles for high-volume consumer products sufficient to evaluate the practicality of simulation-driven design proposals; familiarity with relevant standards (Hydraulic Institute for pumps; UL/NSF for pool equipment); experience with open-source CFD (OpenFOAM).
• Strategic thinker with the ability to balance technical rigor and business priorities.
• Exceptional communication and presentation skills; able to convey complex simulation results to design test and leadership audiences.
• Excellent problem-solving analytical and organizational abilities.
• Collaborative leadership style.
• Willingness to travel occasionally for cross-site collaboration supplier engagement or industry conferences.

Work Environment

• Involves both office and laboratory work. Indoor and outdoor activities are routine requirements of the job.
• Commonly works around water mechanical assemblies and electrical machinery.

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