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Mechanical Engineer - Active Cooling

Cowboy Space Corporation· Spacecraft Engineering
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Kent, Washington$100k - $300kFull-timePosted 2mo ago

About the role

Mechanical Engineer responsible for the liquid cooling loop that maintains GPU compute hardware temperature on orbit. End-to-end ownership from concept through flight, including design, analysis, ground testing, qualification, and on-orbit operation, collaborating across thermal, power, structures, avionics, propulsion, and software teams.

Responsibilities

  • Own the design of the spacecraft liquid cooling loop for GPU compute hardware from concept through flight, including cold plates, pumps, valves, accumulators, heat exchangers, tubing, fittings, and instrumentation.
  • Perform pressure-drop, flow, and thermal-fluid analyses to size the loop and predict system behavior across the full mission profile, balancing heat rejection, pump power, mass, and reliability.
  • Design the mechanical packaging, structures, mounts, and mechanisms that house and integrate the cooling loop, and couple it to radiators and the broader thermal control system.
  • Design, build, and operate ground testbeds and dev rigs to characterize components, validate the loop, and de-risk the flight design ahead of qualification.
  • Develop and execute proof-pressure, leak, flow, thermal-vacuum, and qualification/acceptance test programs to verify flight-worthiness.
  • Author and maintain schematics, drawings, interface control documents, analysis reports, test procedures, and release/configuration records.
  • Select, size, and integrate coolant loop components to meet performance, mass, and reliability requirements, and work with suppliers to ensure high-quality, scalable production.
  • Diagnose and resolve cooling-system anomalies during integration and test, applying root-cause analysis and implementing corrective actions.
  • Partner with thermal, power, structures, avionics, propulsion, and software teams to ensure the cooling loop integrates seamlessly within the overall spacecraft architecture.
  • Embrace a fast-paced development environment, driving quick design cycles, hardware builds, and test campaigns to accelerate the program schedule.

Qualifications

  • BS or MS in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related field
  • 3+ years of experience designing or analyzing fluid systems and/or mechanical hardware in aerospace, automotive, energy, data-center cooling, or other high-performance environments
  • Strong fluids fundamentals: compressible/incompressible flow, thermodynamics, heat transfer, and pressure systems
  • Hands-on experience with fluid components including pumps, valves, regulators, tubing, and instrumentation
  • Experience taking hardware from concept through build and test, with hands-on integration and test experience
  • Strong mechanical design fundamentals in mechanics, materials, and thermal systems
  • Proficiency with CAD (e.g., NX, SolidWorks, or similar)
  • Experience working in fast-paced, hardware-focused development environments

Skills

Required:Fluid systems design and analysisMechanical designCADTest planning and execution

Benefits

  • Equity in Cowboy Space Corp.
  • Employees and their eligible dependents may enroll in medical, dental, and vision insurance
  • 401(k) retirement savings plan
  • Paid time off
  • 10 paid holidays per calendar year
  • Paid parental leave
  • Relocation assistance if applicable
  • Daily lunch in the office and a fully stocked kitchen with beverages and snacks
Last updated Oct 4, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.

About Cowboy Space Corporation

Powering Humanity From the High Frontier

Cowboy Space Corp. is building a power grid in outer space for artificial intelligence. It is an integrated system of satellites and rockets to haul high-performance compute and optical data transmission down from Low Earth Orbit. Earth's energy grid can't run at the pace of AI. We can.

Orbital Data CentersAI compute in spacesolar-powered data centersLow Earth Orbitpower grid in space
Company profileWebsite

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