Senior Thermal Engineer - AI Satellites: Cooling & CFD

Future Ventures; Bastrop (TX); On-site; USD 110,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

SpaceX is seeking a Senior Thermal Engineer focused on fluids analysis to join the Starmind Thermal team. You will own conjugate heat transfer and thermal-fluid analysis of cold plates, heat exchangers, and radiator channels for high-performance satellites.

You’ll also manage the 0-D/1-D network sizing and balance cooling loops, driving architecture trades with hardware teams. Ideal candidates have a bachelor’s degree in mechanical or aerospace engineering and 1+ years in fluids/CFD/thermal

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical, aerospace, or a related engineering discipline.
• 1+ years of professional experience in fluids, CFD, or thermal analysis.
• Master’s degree in mechanical or aerospace engineering preferred.

Responsibilities

• Own conjugate heat-transfer (CHT) and thermal-fluid analysis of high-performance cold plates, heat exchangers, and radiator channels for STARMIND satellites
• Own the system 0-D/1-D thermal-fluid network that sizes and balances the cooling loop: flow split, ΔP budget, loop ΔT, pump operating point
• Drive cooling-loop architecture trades with hardware and vehicle-level thermal teammates
• Co-evolve geometry, materials and processes with hardware owners to find mass producible, efficient thermal solutions
• Predict component and system performance under wide range of flow and thermal conditions
• Own pre-test prediction, test design, and model-test correlation for fluid component and integrated thermal tests
• Automate analysis workflows for re-running trades as designs and boundary conditions change

Skills

Conjugate heat-transfer

Thermal-fluid analysis

CFD

Heat exchanger design

Python scripting

Data visualization

Education

Bachelor’s degree in mechanical, aerospace, or related engineering

1+ years in fluids/CFD/thermal analysis

Tools

STAR-CCM+

ANSYS Fluent/CFX

Siemens NX

Icepak

Flotherm

Job description

SpaceX is seeking a Senior Thermal Engineer focused on fluids analysis to join the Starmind Thermal team. You will own conjugate heat transfer and thermal-fluid analysis of cold plates, heat exchangers, and radiator channels for high-performance satellites.

You’ll also manage the 0-D/1-D network sizing and balance cooling loops, driving architecture trades with hardware teams. Ideal candidates have a bachelor’s degree in mechanical or aerospace engineering and 1+ years in fluids/CFD/thermal