Spacecraft Thermal Systems Engineer II - Ground & Flight Test

Varda Space Industries; El Segundo (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 153,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible PTO +12 holidays

Medical, dental, vision insurance

Parental leave

Relocation support

EV charging

401(k) with employer match

Stock options

Job summary

Varda Space Industries in El Segundo, CA is seeking an experienced Thermal Hardware and Test Engineer II to design, build, and test thermal and fluid systems for ground and spacecraft applications. This role spans mechanical, electrical, fluid, and control disciplines with hands-on responsibilities.

You will develop active and passive thermal control systems, size thermomechanical hardware, and own testing infrastructure from concept to commissioning, ensuring high reliability and safety

Qualifications

• B.S. in Mechanical Engineering or equivalent experience.
• 3+ years applying engineering principles to thermal design, test, and fabrication.
• Proficiency in Thermal Desktop and SINDA/FLUINT for detailed thermal analysis.

Responsibilities

• Drive end-to-end development of thermal hardware and test infrastructure: concept, design, fabrication, integration, validation, and maintenance.
• Develop active and passive thermal control systems with thermal analysis engineers for payload and vehicle thermal control.
• Inform manufacturing and integration of thermal/fluid hardware onto the vehicle.
• Conduct component level acceptance and qualification thermal vacuum tests.
• Evaluate the impact of hardware design decisions on packaging, thermal, environmental, and loads to ensure best system-level solution.
• Architect and assemble fluid, thermal, mechanical, and electrical designs, test rigs, and fixtures for diverse development activities.
• Implement instrumentation and data acquisition (DAQ) solutions, integrating sensors, transducers, actuators, PLCs, and embedded controllers.
• Generate documentation for procedures, schematics, reports for ground test and flight hardware.
• Apply first-principles thinking to diagnose issues, resolve anomalies, and optimize equipment reliability to >99% uptime.

Skills

Thermal design

Thermal testing

CAD design

MATLAB

Thermal Desktop

SINDA/FLUINT

TVac testing

Written communication

Education

B.S. in Mechanical Engineering

Tools

ANSYS

Job description

Varda Space Industries in El Segundo, CA is seeking an experienced Thermal Hardware and Test Engineer II to design, build, and test thermal and fluid systems for ground and spacecraft applications. This role spans mechanical, electrical, fluid, and control disciplines with hands-on responsibilities.

You will develop active and passive thermal control systems, size thermomechanical hardware, and own testing infrastructure from concept to commissioning, ensuring high reliability and safety