Senior Spacecraft Thermal Analysis Engineer

Socket.dev; United States; On-site; USD 150,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

Blue Origin is seeking a Senior Thermal Engineer to own thermal analysis for the MK1 Lunar Lander, from launch to cis-lunar space. You will build models, run cases, and post-process results to drive design decisions.

You will mentor junior analysts, collaborate across vehicle and hardware teams, and present findings to partners and customers. A strong background in heat transfer and spacecraft hardware is required.

Qualifications

• B.S. degree in mechanical or aerospace engineering or equivalent.
• 8+ years of relevant Thermal Engineering/Analysis experience.
• Proven, hands-on experience designing and analyzing thermal control systems within the space or aerospace industry.
• Senior-level understanding of heat transfer (conduction, convection, radiation), fluid flow, and thermodynamic principles as applied to spacecraft thermal control systems.
• Solid understanding of spacecraft thermal control hardware including heaters, MLI blankets, thermal coatings, heat pipes, radiators, thermostats, and thermal isolators.
• Proficiency with industry-standard thermal analysis tools including Thermal Desktop, SINDA/FLUINT, and ANSYS Workbench, including model development, validation, correlation, and uncertainty quantification.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to earn trust, maintain positive and professional relationships.

Responsibilities

• Collect analysis inputs from stakeholders and responsible engineers from vehicle and hardware teams.
• Develop new or modified thermal analysis models to represent vehicle configuration and behavior.
• Create analysis cases to evaluate vehicle thermal performance in worst case conditions.
• Analyze component and assembly thermal performance using a broad spectrum of analysis techniques from classical hand calculations to Thermal Desktop models.
• Post process analysis results to draw engineering conclusions from output data.
• Author and publish analysis reports in various mediums to support engineering decision making.
• Generate and present design review content to subsystem, vehicle and business unit partners and customers.
• Mentoring more junior thermal analysts.

Skills

Thermal analysis

Heat transfer

Spacecraft thermal control

Communication skills

Education

B.S. in mechanical or aerospace engineering

M.S. or PhD in mechanical or aerospace engineering

Tools

MATLAB

Python

Thermal Desktop

SINDA/FLUINT

ANSYS Workbench

Job description

Blue Origin is seeking a Senior Thermal Engineer to own thermal analysis for the MK1 Lunar Lander, from launch to cis-lunar space. You will build models, run cases, and post-process results to drive design decisions.

You will mentor junior analysts, collaborate across vehicle and hardware teams, and present findings to partners and customers. A strong background in heat transfer and spacecraft hardware is required.