Senior Thermal Engineer - Passive Cooling for Hardware

Blue Origin; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 130,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Blue Origin is seeking a Senior Thermal Engineer to own the thermal architecture for the TeraWave user terminal, a compact, outdoor-deployed device requiring robust passive cooling. The role focuses on CFD/FEA modeling, material selection, and hardware collaboration to maintain reliability in extreme environments.

You will drive solid design solutions with RF, electrical, PCB, and mechanical teams, ensure derating compliance, and lead thermal characterization tests across prototype to

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's in Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering with focus on heat transfer/thermal sciences.
• 7+ years of thermal engineering experience in electronics hardware.
• Proficiency with industry thermal simulation tools for component- and system-level modeling.
• Experience designing passive cooling for sealed/enclosed electronics.
• Experience solving thermal challenges in IP-rated, weather-exposed enclosures.
• Knowledge of TIMs, thermal interface materials, gap fillers, and potting compounds.
• Hands-on thermal characterization: imaging, thermocouples, environmental chambers.

Responsibilities

• Define thermal management strategy for a compact outdoor user terminal.
• Build and maintain detailed thermal models to predict temperatures and derating.
• Work with RF/EE teams to establish system power dissipation budgets.
• Design heat spreading/dissipation solutions in collaboration with PCB and mechanical teams.
• Address passive heat rejection in IP67+ sealed enclosures under varied environments.
• Ensure designs meet environmental specs and qualification testing (HALT/HASS).
• Lead thermal testing to validate models and close gaps in design.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to translate power dissipation into practical designs.
• Produce thermal analysis reports and design guidelines for hardware teams.
• Support high-volume manufacturing and CM partnerships.

Skills

Thermal engineering

Passive cooling design

Cross-team collaboration

Thermal imaging

Thermal derating

Education

Bachelor's or Master's in Mechanical/Aerospace Engineering

Tools

Ansys Icepak

Siemens Simcenter FLOTHERM

6SigmaET

Job description

Blue Origin is seeking a Senior Thermal Engineer to own the thermal architecture for the TeraWave user terminal, a compact, outdoor-deployed device requiring robust passive cooling. The role focuses on CFD/FEA modeling, material selection, and hardware collaboration to maintain reliability in extreme environments.

You will drive solid design solutions with RF, electrical, PCB, and mechanical teams, ensure derating compliance, and lead thermal characterization tests across prototype to