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Staff Engineer, Aircraft Thermal Systems - Ranger (R6351)

Shield AI· X-BAT Division – X-BAT Engineering - Mechanical
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Seattle, Washington$170k - $260kFull Time EmployeePosted 3d ago

About the role

Staff (L4) Aircraft Thermal Systems Engineer responsible for ownership of thermal analysis, design, and vehicle integration for a Group 5 UAV fighter aircraft, delivering robust thermal systems and hardware in a rapid-iteration development environment.

Responsibilities

  • Thermal System Ownership: Define and mature aircraft-level thermal environments and thermal management solutions for vehicle bays, hot surfaces, and other thermal-critical installations.
  • Thermal Analysis and Modeling: Perform first-principles heat transfer and fluid mechanics calculations, then develop analytical, finite-difference, and CFD models to characterize conduction, convection, radiation, and coupled thermal-fluid behavior.
  • Cooling System Design: Design and evaluate active and passive cooling solutions, including heat-rejection paths, airflow, ducting, thermal interfaces, and hardware needed to manage vehicle thermal loads.
  • Requirements and Risk Management: Generate thermal requirements, assess technical risks, and develop actionable design recommendations that balance thermal performance with vehicle power, mass, volume, maintainability, and integration constraints.
  • Vehicle and Hardware Integration: Develop thermal hardware layouts and CAD models, and resolve interfaces with structures, avionics, fluid systems, EWIS, and adjacent mechanical systems.
  • Test and Validation: Define qualification and verification test plans, design test rigs, support instrumentation and data acquisition, and correlate analytical and computational models with test data.
  • Hardware and Supplier Execution: Author technical specifications and statements of work for thermal hardware, evaluate suppliers, and drive supplier technical execution through prototype build and test.
  • Qualification and Hardware Delivery: Define and execute qualification test plans per MIL-STD-810, using results to mature the design into production-ready hardware and support MIL-HDBK-516 Airworthiness Certification.
  • Technical Leadership: Communicate thermal findings through design reviews and technical reports, guide cross-disciplinary teams in applying thermal and fluid fundamentals, and influence vehicle-level thermal design decisions.

Qualifications

  • Clearance required: US Citizens Only & Must have an Active Secret or higher clearance.
  • 7 to 12 years of direct experience in aerospace thermal engineering, environmental control systems, or vehicle thermal and fluid system development.
  • B.S. or M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
  • Deep mastery of thermodynamics, heat transfer, and fluid dynamics applied to aircraft or defense systems.
  • Demonstrated capability with first-principles hand calculations, finite-difference methods, and CFD or thermal-analysis tools such as FloEFD, STAR-CCM+, Thermal Desktop, or equivalent.
  • Demonstrated ability to design active and passive cooling solutions and manage thermal environments for aircraft bays, engine bays, hot surfaces, or comparable aerospace installations.
  • Experience in 3D CAD modeling, thermal hardware layout, routing, and drawing release with Siemens NX, CATIA, Creo, SolidWorks, or equivalent PLM workflows.
  • Proven track record sourcing COTS/custom aerospace components, driving suppliers to schedule, and assembling benchtop or vehicle-level test setups.
  • Demonstrated ability to self-direct, prioritize technical tasks without oversight, and deliver functional hardware under tight timelines.

Skills

Required:Thermal analysisCooling system designThermal hardware integrationRequirements and risk managementTechnical leadership

Benefits

  • Pay within range listed + Bonus + Benefits + Equity
  • Temporary employee offer package includes temporary benefits after 60 days of employment
Last updated Oct 23, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.

About Shield AI

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Our mission is to protect service members and civilians with intelligent systems.

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