Aerospace Thermal Engineer - CFD, Testing & Heat Management

Powerus; Charlotte (NC); On-site; USD 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Powerus is seeking an experienced Thermal Engineer in Charlotte, NC to own end-to-end thermal behavior for avionics, propulsion, power electronics, and payload assemblies. Build models, define heat rejection, design cooling paths, and validate with chamber and flight data.

Collaborate with avionics, power, payload, airframe, and test engineering to ensure safe operation under altitude and environmental conditions; grow the thermal discipline across the program.

Qualifications

• Degree in mechanical or aerospace engineering or equivalent practical experience.
• Experience performing thermal analysis of hardware, including modeling and hand calculations.
• Ability to read and interpret thermal test data.
• U.S. Person status required; ITAR/EAR access restrictions apply.

Responsibilities

• Build steady-state and transient thermal models of avionics, propulsion, power electronics, and payload assemblies, and keep them current as the designs move
• Perform computational fluid dynamics and airflow analysis for enclosures, cooling passages, inlets, and exhaust paths
• Define heat rejection strategy for each subsystem, choosing conduction paths, convection, heat spreading, and mounting interface design
• Specify heat sinks, thermal interface materials, fans and ducting, and coordinate fit and mass impact with mechanical and airframe design
• Set component temperature limits and derating guidance with electrical and avionics engineers, and track thermal margin as a budget
• Analyze environmental and altitude effects on cooling, including reduced air density, ambient extremes, solar load, and ground operation before takeoff
• Plan and run thermal testing - thermocouple and imaging instrumentation, chamber runs, bench soak and mission-profile tests, and in-flight temperature capture
• Correlate models against measured data, document assumptions that survived, and close the gap between predicted and observed behavior
• Support thermal troubleshooting on prototypes and production units, from hot parts on benches to temperature-driven faults in the field

Skills

Thermal modeling

CFD analysis

Thermal testing

Heat transfer fundamentals

Matlab/Simulations

Education

Bachelor's degree in mechanical or aerospace engineering

Tools

ANYS Fluent

SolidWorks

MATLAB

Job description

Powerus is seeking an experienced Thermal Engineer in Charlotte, NC to own end-to-end thermal behavior for avionics, propulsion, power electronics, and payload assemblies. Build models, define heat rejection, design cooling paths, and validate with chamber and flight data.

Collaborate with avionics, power, payload, airframe, and test engineering to ensure safe operation under altitude and environmental conditions; grow the thermal discipline across the program.