Senior Orbital Thermal Engineer - Lead Design & On-Orbit

Gravitics Inc; Houston (TX); On-site; USD 145,000 - 195,000; Full time

Job summary

Gravitics is seeking a seasoned Thermal Engineer to own the thermal design and integration for orbital structures. You will oversee architectures, requirements, and roadmaps, selecting components and performing detailed thermal analyses across concepts to on-orbit operations.

You will mentor junior engineers, contribute to proposals, and collaborate with internal and external stakeholders, including defense and civil programs.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering from an accredited university.
• 9+ years of post-baccalaureate thermal design, analysis, test, and troubleshooting experience in industry or university research.
• Extensive space industry experience designing thermal systems from concept through manufacturing, test, and deployment.
• System architecture design experience.
• Expert-level proficiency in industry-standard thermal analysis tools such as Thermal Desktop or Siemens Simcenter.
• Experience with design in Siemens NX.
• Experience with thermal chamber testing in both ambient and vacuum environments.
• Extensive hands-on experience with data acquisition instrumentation.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; confident presenting at design reviews.
• Candidates must be willing to work on Civil, Commercial, and Defense-related projects.

Responsibilities

• Own thermal design and integration for orbital structures, from concept through on-orbit operations.
• Write and maintain system architectures, requirements documents, and development roadmaps.
• Perform component selection and coarse and detailed thermal analysis.
• Manage thermal interface requirements for internal teams and external customers.
• Supervise contract or in-house manufacturing of thermal hardware.
• Design and support test and qualification campaigns including thermal chamber testing.
• Present work products confidently at engineering design reviews to internal and external stakeholders.
• Contribute to proposals, funding opportunities, and research initiatives.
• Mentor junior engineers and actively develop team capabilities.

Skills

Thermal design

Thermal analysis

Thermal testing

Troubleshooting

System architecture

Communication skills

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s in Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering

Tools

Thermal Desktop

Siemens Simcenter

Siemens NX

Data acquisition

Job description

Gravitics is seeking a seasoned Thermal Engineer to own the thermal design and integration for orbital structures. You will oversee architectures, requirements, and roadmaps, selecting components and performing detailed thermal analyses across concepts to on-orbit operations.

You will mentor junior engineers, contribute to proposals, and collaborate with internal and external stakeholders, including defense and civil programs.