Senior Spacecraft Thermal Engineer — Shape Orbital Systems

Apex; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Shared upside

Best-in-class healthcare

Comprehensive PTO

401(k) plan with matching

Parental leave

Lunch and snacks

Playa Vista office

Impactful work

Job summary

Apex in Playa Vista, CA seeks a Senior Thermal Engineer to own the thermal design of our satellite buses from concept through flight. You’ll develop and validate spacecraft-level thermal models, drive thermal design decisions, and work hands-on with flight hardware across engineering teams.

Ideal candidates have 5+ years in thermal engineering, strong fundamentals in heat transfer, and experience with Ansys Thermal Desktop. U.S. person status is required for access to export-controlled data.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or related field.
• 5+ years of experience in thermal engineering or analysis.
• Experience with thermal modeling and analysis tools.
• Strong understanding of heat transfer and thermal engineering fundamentals.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills in a fast-paced environment.
• U.S. Person status is required for export-controlled data.

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain spacecraft-level thermal models using Ansys Thermal Desktop.
• Perform thermal analyses to evaluate spacecraft performance across mission environments.
• Develop thermal control solutions and drive thermal design decisions across spacecraft systems.
• Plan and execute thermal subsystem milestone reviews (SRR, PDR, CDR).
• Support thermal flight hardware integration, build, and test.
• Design, plan, and execute thermal vacuum testing at component and spacecraft level.
• Correlate test and flight data to thermal models to improve accuracy.
• Collaborate with mechanical, systems, avionics, and other teams to meet requirements.

Skills

Thermal engineering

Heat transfer

Thermal modeling

Analytical thinking

Problem solving

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical/Aerospace Engineering

Tools

Ansys Thermal Desktop

Siemens NX

Teamcenter

Job description

Apex in Playa Vista, CA seeks a Senior Thermal Engineer to own the thermal design of our satellite buses from concept through flight. You’ll develop and validate spacecraft-level thermal models, drive thermal design decisions, and work hands-on with flight hardware across engineering teams.

Ideal candidates have 5+ years in thermal engineering, strong fundamentals in heat transfer, and experience with Ansys Thermal Desktop. U.S. person status is required for access to export-controlled data.