Hypersonic TPS Thermal Engineer

Anduril Industries, Inc.; Seattle (WA); Hybrid; USD 129,000 - 171,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive benefits

Equity

Career growth opportunities

Job summary

Anduril Industries in Seattle, WA seeks a Thermal Engineer specialized in Thermal Protection Systems (TPS) to own the design, analysis, and validation of TPS for hypersonic and high-speed flight systems operating in extreme aerothermal environments.

You will apply first-principles hand calculations, material response modeling, and CFD to guide rapid, high-consequence design decisions while collaborating with aerodynamics, structures, propulsion, and systems engineers to integrate TPS into

Qualifications

• MS or PhD in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Applied Physics, or related field with a focus on aerothermodynamics, heat transfer, thermal sciences, or materials science.
• 2+ years of experience in TPS design, aerothermal analysis, or high-temperature material response for aerospace or defense systems.
• Strong first-principles understanding of aerodynamic heating, ablation, high-temperature heat transfer, and material thermal response.
• Experience with material response modeling tools such as FIAT, CMA, TITAN, or equivalent ablation/thermal response codes.
• Experience supporting thermal design for hypersonic vehicles, reentry systems, missiles, rocket nozzles, or other systems operating in extreme aerothermal environments.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Top Secret security clearance.

Responsibilities

• Own TPS design, material selection, and thermal analysis for hypersonic and high-speed flight vehicles, including missiles and reentry systems.
• Perform aerothermal heating analysis using correlations, boundary-layer methods, and CFD to define the thermal environment across flight trajectories.
• Conduct ablation and material response modeling to predict TPS recession and thermal margins under mission conditions.
• Evaluate and select TPS materials (carbon phenolic, PICA, silicone-based ablators, ceramics, high-temp composites) by loads and manufacturability.
• Partner with aerodynamics, structures, propulsion, and systems engineers to integrate TPS into vehicle design while managing mass and performance trades.
• Define and execute thermal/material characterization tests (arcjet/furnace/flight-article testing).
• Build thermal models from hand calculations to detailed FEA/CFD to predict performance and support qualification.

Skills

First-principles heating

Ablation theory

Thermal analysis

Trajectory heating analysis

MATLAB/Python

Education

MS or PhD in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Applied Physics, or related field

Tools

FIAT

CMA

TITAN

DPLR

US3D

Loci-CHEM

ANSYS Fluent

STAR-CCM+

Job description

Anduril Industries in Seattle, WA seeks a Thermal Engineer specialized in Thermal Protection Systems (TPS) to own the design, analysis, and validation of TPS for hypersonic and high-speed flight systems operating in extreme aerothermal environments.

You will apply first-principles hand calculations, material response modeling, and CFD to guide rapid, high-consequence design decisions while collaborating with aerodynamics, structures, propulsion, and systems engineers to integrate TPS into