Sr. Thermal Engineer - Fluids Analysis, AI Satellites (Starmind)

SPACE EXPLORATION TECHNOLOGIES CORP; Bastrop (TX); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

SpaceX is seeking a Sr. Thermal Engineer (Fluids Analysis) to join the Starmind team in Bastrop, TX.

You will own conjugate heat-transfer and thermal-fluid analysis for cold plates, heat exchangers, and radiator channels on high‑performance satellite hardware. You will develop and size the cooling loop network (flow split, pressure budget, loop ΔT) and co-evolve geometry with mechanical and test teams to deliver manufacturable, reliable cooling solutions for space environments.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical, aerospace, or a related engineering discipline.
• 5+ years of professional experience in fluids, CFD, or thermal analysis.
• Experience with high‑performance cooling hardware and design.

Responsibilities

• Own conjugate heat-transfer 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

Thermal-network modeling

Manufacturing collaboration

Education

Bachelor’s degree in mechanical/aerospace engineering

Tools

STAR-CCM+

ANSYS Fluent/CFX

Siemens NX

Icepak/Flotherm

Job description

Sr. Thermal Engineer - Fluids Analysis, AI Satellites (Starmind)

Bastrop, TX

SpaceX was founded under the belief that a future where humanity is out exploring the stars is fundamentally more exciting than one where we are not. Today SpaceX is actively developing the technologies to make this possible, with the ultimate goal of enabling human life on Mars.

SR. THERMAL ENGINEER (FLUIDS ANALYSIS), AI SATELLITES (STARMIND)

SpaceX is leveraging its experience deploying and operating the world’s largest satellite constellation to develop Starmind, a new constellation of satellites capturing solar energy in space to power low-cost, high-performance AI compute for Earth. Scaling AI in space is a thermal problem as much as a power and processing problem. With a dense compute payload dissipating hundreds of kilowatts, the thermal system must efficiently transfer heat to large radiators that reject it to space, under solar load, eclipse, and multi-mode AI duty cycles.

You will join the StarmindThermal team, which owns the satellite cooling stack end-to-end. Rejecting hundreds of kilowatts of accelerator waste heat to space is limited by high-flux loads transferring heat to massive deployable radiators. No capable cooling architecture has been flown at this scale. As a Senior Thermal Engineer focused on fluids analysis, you own conjugate heat transfer and thermal-fluid analysis of cold plates, heat exchangers, and radiator channels and manifolds, and the system 0-D/1-D thermal-fluid network that sets flow split, ΔP budget, loop ΔT, and pump operating point. You co-evolve geometry and flow path with mechanical and fluid-systems owners under tight feedback from manufacturing and test. You sit where the local physics is hardest and the design decisions stick: predictions that close margins, ground in test, and drive rate‑production hardware.

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

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:

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

PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:

• Master’s degree in mechanical, aerospace, or a related engineering discipline
• Steady/transient conjugate heat‑transfer CFD of liquid‑cooled or high‑heat‑flux hardware (STAR‑CCM+, ANSYS Fluent/CFX, or equivalent)
• Hand‑calc checks and engineering judgment on mesh, turbulence modeling, and model fidelity
• Hands on hardware testing inclusive of instrumentation selection and model correlation
• Relevant manufacturing techniques, and judiciously pushing their constraints
• Watertight CFD geometry (Siemens NX or equivalent)
• Package/board‑level tools as secondary (Icepak, Flotherm)
• 0‑D/1‑D thermal‑fluid network modeling to size and balance cooling loops (flow split, ΔP budget, loop ΔT, pump operating point)
• Scripting analysis workflows and post‑processing (Python preferred)

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS:

• Ability to work extended hours or weekends as needed for mission critical deadlines
• Some travel may occasionally be required
• To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here .

SpaceX is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with SpaceX is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.

Applicants wishing to view a copy of SpaceX’s affirmative Action Plan for veterans and individuals with disabilities, or applicants requiring reasonable accommodation to the application/interview process should reach out to [e-mail] .

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