Senior Spacecraft Thermal Engineer

InvestedintheMission; Town of Florida (NY); On-site; USD 140,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation assistance

Travel opportunities up to 25%

Job summary

Blue Origin seeks a Senior Thermal Engineer to lead thermal design and analysis for satellite payloads and on-orbit constellation solutions. You will create detailed models, define interfaces across subsystems, and drive validation under mission scenarios.

Collaboration with payload, mechanical, power, and systems teams is essential. The role requires hands-on experience with spaceborne thermal design, radiation heat transfer, and flight hardware qualification, plus proficiency in Thermal

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required in mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, physics, or related field.
• 7+ years of experience in thermal engineering for aerospace systems and/or high-performance electronics.
• Experience with spaceborne thermal design, including vacuum environments, radiation heat transfer, and flight hardware qualification.
• Experience with thermal modeling tools (e.g., Thermal Desktop, SINDA/FLUINT)

Responsibilities

• Lead thermal design & analysis for satellite-based, high-power payloads and associated power electronics.
• Develop detailed thermal models covering conduction, radiation, and convection as appropriate.
• Define and manage thermal interfaces across payload subsystems, including radiators, heat pipes, loop heat pipes, cold plates, and structural elements.
• Perform transient and steady-state thermal analyses to validate performance under mission profiles and environmental conditions.
• Develop thermal architecture for common bus/payload configurations reused across production blocks.
• Define thermal model correlation strategy under limited test data and extend across production blocks.
• Address LEO thermal cycling fatigue on joints, solder, TIMs, and coatings across design life.
• Drive design-for-manufacturability of thermal hardware at rate and support rapid trades with automated modeling workflows.
• Evaluate COTS or commercial-grade thermal components and manage heater power budgets as a fleet-level driver.
• Support design-for-demise and material selection for disposal casualty risk.
• Assess manufacturability, cost, and schedule impact of thermal hardware choices for production at scale.
• Collaborate with payload, mechanical, power, and systems engineering to integrate thermal constraints.
• Establish thermal requirements, margins, and verification plans.

Skills

Thermal design

Thermal modeling

Systems engineering collaboration

Cross-functional teamwork

Design reviews

Education

Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, physics, or related field

Tools

Thermal Desktop

SINDA/FLUINT

Job description

Blue Origin seeks a Senior Thermal Engineer to lead thermal design and analysis for satellite payloads and on-orbit constellation solutions. You will create detailed models, define interfaces across subsystems, and drive validation under mission scenarios.

Collaboration with payload, mechanical, power, and systems teams is essential. The role requires hands-on experience with spaceborne thermal design, radiation heat transfer, and flight hardware qualification, plus proficiency in Thermal