Senior Thermal Engineer, Spacecraft & Antenna Systems

Blue Origin; Cupertino (CA); On-site; USD 157,000 - 220,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision

401(k) with company match

Stock options

Paid time off

Education support program

Job summary

Blue Origin in California is seeking a Senior Thermal Engineer to own the thermal design of our phased array antennas for satellite payloads and ground terminals. You’ll build transient thermal models, drive interface considerations, and set duty cycles in collaboration with operations to ensure performance within mass and cost constraints.

You will mentor engineers, define verification plans, and work across RF, electronics, structures, and manufacturing to deliver repeatable, high-quality

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Physics, or related field.
• 8+ years in thermal engineering for aerospace, RF systems, or high-power-density electronics.
• Spaceborne thermal design experience: vacuum, radiation heat transfer, flight hardware qualification.
• Strong grasp of phased array thermal challenges — dense front-end integration, high areal power density, and the coupling between junction temperature and RF efficiency.
• Proficiency with thermal modeling tools (Thermal Desktop, SINDA/FLUINT, ANSYS Icepak, or equivalent).
• Working knowledge of materials, coatings, and interface technologies for space and outdoor terrestrial hardware.
• Familiarity with environmental and qualification standards (NASA, ESA, MIL-STD or similar).

Responsibilities

• Own thermal architecture for satellite phased array payloads — RF front ends, beamforming ICs, power electronics — and for ground terminal arrays.
• Build and run transient thermal models of dense multi-chip board stacks, from die junction out to structure and radiators.
• Drive the interface design that governs performance: mounting and preload, interface materials and bondlines, heat pipes, spreaders, thermal storage.
• Define the duty-cycle and operational limits the constellation flies to, working with operations and planning teams so thermal constraints show up as capacity rather than surprises.
• Run architecture-level trades and quantify what each buys in degrees, kilograms, and dollars per unit.
• Set requirements, margins, and verification plans; execute thermal test articles and correlate models to test.
• Design for a high-rate production line. A solution that works once but can’t be built repeatably at takt isn’t a solution here.
• Mentor engineers and help establish how thermal engineering is practiced on a fast-scaling program.

Skills

Thermal design

Aerospace engineering

Thermal modeling

Mentoring/leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering

Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering

Physics (related field)

Master’s degree (preferred)

Tools

Thermal Desktop

SINDA/FLUINT

ANSYS Icepak

Job description

Blue Origin in California is seeking a Senior Thermal Engineer to own the thermal design of our phased array antennas for satellite payloads and ground terminals. You’ll build transient thermal models, drive interface considerations, and set duty cycles in collaboration with operations to ensure performance within mass and cost constraints.

You will mentor engineers, define verification plans, and work across RF, electronics, structures, and manufacturing to deliver repeatable, high-quality