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Staff Thermal Engineer, Space

Anduril· AFS : Space Engineering
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Costa Mesa, CA$191k - $253kfull-timePosted 10mo ago

About the role

Anduril Industries is seeking a Staff Thermal Engineer for the Space team to own thermal design and analysis for space vehicles or payloads, develop thermal environments and budgets, drive architectures, and support hardware testing and analysis in a fast-paced environment.

Responsibilities

  • Own the thermal design and analysis of a space vehicle or payload program
  • Use first principles as a basis for every decision and discern the right level of analysis to apply. Execute hand calculations, spreadsheet, and MATLAB/Python first-order models to inform path forward before jumping into detailed design
  • Define worst case thermal environments across the vehicle mission lifetime
  • Define system thermal budgets and requirements through collaboration with engineers in other disciplines
  • Drive thermal architectures and hardware definitions, such as radiator sizing, coating selections, heater power allocation, MLI definitions, thermal interface material selections, thermal management techniques, and trading heat transport devices
  • Support PCBA thermal analysis and electronic component thermal management
  • Own the development, planning, and execution of unit and system thermal vacuum, thermal balance, and thermal cycle tests
  • Develop internal tools to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of analysis
  • Develop, prepare, and execute thermal tests to inform analysis and reduce risk on key hardware assemblies

Qualifications

  • BS, MS, or higher degree in engineering, applied physics, or hard science
  • Demonstrated knowledge of heat transfer in academic and/or professional setting
  • Application of first-order hand calculations to drive thermal architectures and verify accuracy of higher fidelity models
  • Proficiency in Thermal Desktop or equivalent thermal simulation tool
  • Thermal experience with spacecraft components such as optical payloads, electronics, mechanisms, etc.
  • Hands-on experience prototyping hardware and conducting thermal tests
  • Experience with CAD, selecting instrumentation, post-processing data, correlating models
  • Ability to independently navigate and solve complex, open-ended technical problems in a fast-paced environment
  • CAD experience (Siemens NX preferred)
  • Excellent oral and written communication skills. Ability to communicate pros/cons of system architecture with respect to thermal considerations
  • Passion for defending the United States and her allies
  • U.S. Person status is required as this position needs to access export-controlled data

Skills

Required:Thermal design and analysisFirst-principles analysisThermal environments and budgetsThermal hardware definitionsThermal testingPCBA thermal analysisCAD (Siemens NX)Communication
Nice to have:Python/MATLAB
Last updated Oct 7, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.

About Anduril

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