Senior Space Thermal Engineer - Nuclear Propulsion

antares; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 145,000 - 185,000; Full time

Job summary

Antares seeks a Senior Space Thermal Engineer to lead thermal design and analysis for a space nuclear vehicle, covering reactor, spacecraft, and heat rejection systems. You will develop and validate high-temperature models, anchor them to test data, and guide architecture decisions from concept to test-informed design.

You will collaborate with reactor, fluids, mechanical, test, and systems engineers, focusing on reactor heat transport, radiator architectures, and thermal hardware integration,

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a technical discipline is required.
• 5+ years of experience in thermal engineering, thermal analysis or related hardware development.
• Strong fundamentals in conduction, convection, radiation, and transient heat transfer.
• Experience building and validating thermal models with data.
• Ability to perform thermal design trades and communicate implications to teams.

Responsibilities

• Construct, own, and validate thermal models for reactor core, spacecraft, radiator systems, and integrated vehicle thermal response.
• Anchor models to experimental and test data; quantify uncertainty and improve fidelity.
• Identify data gaps and work with test engineers to define and execute tests.
• Develop architectures for reactor heat transport, coolant loops, and radiator systems.
• Generate and evaluate heat rejection system configurations across constraints.
• Build system-level models for vehicle performance and transient response.
• Create tools and processes for predicting radiator thermalization and system behavior.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to align thermal design with hardware requirements.

Skills

Thermal modeling

Heat transfer

Spacecraft thermal systems

Nuclear engineering

Python

Git

Thermal Desktop

SINDA/FLUINT

OpenTD

ANSYS

COMSOL

STAR-CCM+

Fluent

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Nuclear Engineering, Thermal Sciences, or related discipline

Master’s degree or higher in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Nuclear Engineering, Thermal Sciences, or related field

Tools

Thermal Desktop

SINDA/FLUINT

OpenTD

ANSYS

COMSOL

STAR-CCM+

Fluent

Job description

Antares seeks a Senior Space Thermal Engineer to lead thermal design and analysis for a space nuclear vehicle, covering reactor, spacecraft, and heat rejection systems. You will develop and validate high-temperature models, anchor them to test data, and guide architecture decisions from concept to test-informed design.

You will collaborate with reactor, fluids, mechanical, test, and systems engineers, focusing on reactor heat transport, radiator architectures, and thermal hardware integration,