Senior Thermal Engineer for Spacecraft & Optical Payloads

University of Alaska Fairbanks Petroleum Engineering; Thermal (CA); On-site; USD 102,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Space Dynamics Laboratory (SDL) is seeking an experienced Thermal Engineer to develop, analyze, integrate, and verify thermal-control solutions for NASA and DoD small satellites and precision optical payloads, from design through flight delivery.

You will build steady-state and transient thermal models, support TVAC testing, participate in PDR/CDR, and collaborate with mechanical, optical, and electrical teams to translate analysis into producible, reliable flight hardware.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical or aerospace engineering or closely related field.
• At least five years of relevant thermal engineering experience.
• Experience with spacecraft thermal design and analysis, including steady-state and transient modeling.
• Proficiency with Thermal Desktop/SINDA/FLUINT or comparable tools.
• Experience supporting PDR/CDR with margins and verification products.
• Experience planning and executing TVAC or thermal-balance tests.

Responsibilities

• Owns or contributes to spacecraft thermal architectures, requirements and interfaces.
• Develops thermal models for steady-state and transient analysis.
• Prepares verification packages for SRR, PDR, CDR and test readiness.
• Collaborates with mechanical, optical, electrical teams to translate analysis into flight designs.
• Plans and conducts TVAC tests, data reduction and model correlation.
• Mentors engineers and supports proposals with thermal expertise.
• Provides technical judgment on margins and verification closure.

Skills

Thermal analysis

PDR/CDR experience

NASA/DoD project

Thermal Desktop

Python

Cross-disciplinary collaboration

Modeling & verification

Education

Bachelor's degree in mechanical or aerospace engineering

Master's degree (preferred)

Tools

Thermal Desktop

SINDA/FLUINT

Python

MATLAB

Job description

Space Dynamics Laboratory (SDL) is seeking an experienced Thermal Engineer to develop, analyze, integrate, and verify thermal-control solutions for NASA and DoD small satellites and precision optical payloads, from design through flight delivery.

You will build steady-state and transient thermal models, support TVAC testing, participate in PDR/CDR, and collaborate with mechanical, optical, and electrical teams to translate analysis into producible, reliable flight hardware.