← All roles

Thermal Engineer, AI Satellites (Starmind)

SpaceX· Mesh Optical
Apply on company site
Bastrop, TXfull-timePosted 2mo ago

About the role

Senior Thermal Engineer focused on fluids analysis for SpaceX’s Starmind satellite program, owning conjugate heat-transfer and thermal-fluid analysis of cold plates, heat exchangers, radiator channels, and the 0-D/1-D thermal-fluid network to size and balance cooling loops for high-power AI compute in space.

Responsibilities

  • Own conjugate heat-transfer (CHT) and thermal-fluid analysis of high-performance cold plates, heat exchangers, and radiator channels for STARMIND satellites
  • Own the system 0-D/1-D thermal-fluid network that sizes and balances the cooling loop: flow split, ΔP budget, loop ΔT, pump operating point
  • Drive cooling-loop architecture trades with hardware and vehicle-level thermal teammates
  • Co-evolve geometry, materials and processes with hardware owners to find mass producible, efficient thermal solutions
  • Predict component and system performance under wide range of flow and thermal conditions
  • Own pre-test prediction, test design, and model-test correlation for fluid component and integrated thermal tests
  • Automate analysis workflows for re-running trades as designs and boundary conditions change

Qualifications

  • Bachelor’s degree in mechanical, aerospace, or a related engineering discipline
  • 1+ years of professional experience in fluids, CFD, or thermal analysis

Skills

Required:Conjugate heat-transfer (CHT) analysisThermal-fluid network modeling (0-D/1-D)
Nice to have:CFD software (STAR-CCM+, ANSYS Fluent/CFX, or equivalent)Geometry and mesh readiness (watertight CFD geometry)Hardware testing and model correlationScripting and automation (Python)
Last updated Aug 19, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.

About SpaceX

defense-aero-and-safetysetter-30setter-30-2026-q1wing-list-2026wing-list-2026-giga-stage
Company profileWebsite

More open roles at SpaceX