Senior Thermal Engineer – Remote

About the role

We are looking for a Senior Thermal Engineer to lead thermal design and analysis for advanced defense hardware, including drones, aircraft, and missiles. The role involves creating thermal architectures, evaluating performance, and supporting prototype testing in demanding environments.

Key responsibilities

• Own thermal design and analysis for integrated hardware products, using hand calculations, spreadsheets, MATLAB/Python models, FEA, and CFD.
• Define thermal architectures for rugged flight envelopes and evaluate hot, cold, transient, and mission‑specific conditions.
• Partner with electrical, mechanical, aerospace, software, and systems engineers to document power dissipation, operating modes, and thermal constraints.
• Build and maintain thermal FEA/CFD models, establish design limits, and set operating thresholds for testing.
• Plan and execute prototype thermal tests, support CAD activities, sensor selection, data acquisition, and post‑processing.
• Present thermal status, risks, and recommendations in internal and customer design reviews.

Required profile

• 5+ years of experience designing, analyzing, or validating thermal systems for high‑performance hardware.
• MS or PhD in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Applied Physics, or related field with focus on heat transfer or fluid dynamics.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Top Secret security clearance, where required.

Required skills

• Strong first‑principles knowledge of conduction, convection, radiation, fluid flow, and transient thermal behavior.
• Experience with thermal analysis tools such as STAR‑CCM+, ANSYS, Icepak, or FloTHERM.
• Proficiency in MATLAB, Python, and spreadsheet modeling.
• Hands‑on experience with FEA/CFD, thermal hardware design (heat sinks, cold plates, fans, pumps, heat exchangers), and prototype testing.