Systems Engineer, Thermal Hardware - Lunar Permanence

Blue Origin LLC; Washington; On-site; USD 107,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision

401k with match

Stock options

Paid time off

Job summary

Blue Origin LLC is seeking a Thermal Engineer to join the Lunar Core Components Heat Transfer team. You will contribute to the design, analysis, and verification of thermal hardware for lunar landers, collaborating across subsystems and participating in design reviews to ensure reliability and mission success.

Travel up to 20%, relocation provided. Responsibilities include defining requirements, trade studies, and supporting integration, test, and launch operations with a culture of technical

Qualifications

• BS in engineering (minimum) and 3+ years related experience.
• Experience in requirements analysis, interface definition, and verification/validation.
• Experience with flight integration and environmental qualification (thermal, vibration).
• Background in active thermal control hardware or thermal analysis.
• Spacecraft thermal control hardware design and development experience.

Responsibilities

• Decompose vehicle thermal and subsystem requirements into actionable specs.
• Develop and maintain ICDs for subsystem compatibility and integration fidelity.
• Own heat transfer component artifacts and specifications.
• Conduct trade studies and make/buy decisions for hardware.
• Lead verification and validation planning including environmental testing.

Skills

Systems engineering

Requirement analysis

Interface definition

Verification & validation

Flight integration

Thermal analysis

Active thermal control

Thermal hardware design

First principles calculations

Data analysis (Matlab Excel)

Education

B.S. in engineering

M.S. in engineering (preferred)

Tools

DOORS

Jama

MATLAB

Cameo

Thermal Desktop

Job description

About the role

We’re working to develop reusable, safe, and low-cost space vehicles and systems within a culture of safety, collaboration, and inclusion. Join our team of problem solvers as we add new chapters to the history of spaceflight! This role is part of the Lunar Permanence business unit, which develops Blue Origin’s Blue Moon landers and related products. As a key member of the Lunar Core Components Heat Transfer team, you will be applying your skills to provide thermal hardware expertise to our Lunar vehicle architectures. In this role you will contribute to a team of Thermal Engineers simultaneously developing groundbreaking thermal hardware for lunar landers and driving those designs through build, test, and verification. We are looking for someone to apply their technical expertise, leadership skills, and commitment to quality to positively impact safe human spaceflight. Passion for our mission and vision is required! Travel expected up to 20% of the time. Relocation provided.

Responsibilities

• Define and decompose Vehicle Thermal and Other subsystem-level requirements into actionable specifications within the Core Thermal-Fluids Heat transfer component domain to ensure our hardware meets vehicle needs.
• Develop and maintain interface control documents (ICDs) with vehicle/s to ensure subsystem compatibility and integration fidelity.
• Ownership of heat transfer component artifacts such as specifications, safety products, and other documents.
• Conduct trade studies and make/buy decisions to determine hardware selection or optimization.
• Drive verification and validation planning, including environmental testing, functional checks, and mission simulations.
• Participate in hardware design reviews (SRR, PDR, CDR) and ensure technical artifacts meet quality and compliance standards.
• Support integration, test, and launch operations with hardware design team, including anomaly resolution and post-launch analysis as required.
• Support schedule management of hardware engineering efforts and products, team coordination, and support make vs buy decisions, hardware procurement, and vendor management.
• Identify process improvements, generate new ideas, and foster a culture of technical excellence and cross-functional collaboration.
• Ensuring alignment and synchronization of component analysis data with Vehicle system teams and interfacing subsystems such as Electrical Power, Liquids, Gas and GNC as required.
• Reviewing system level & thermal subsystem level CONOPS information and distilling into usable datasets for consumption by the thermal hardware teams.
• Verifying compliance of hardware designs against documented requirements (such as temperature limits, AT/QT effort and so on).
• Facilitate hardware risk, FMECA and FTA discussions with relevant stakeholders.

Minimum Qualifications

• Minimum of a B.S. degree in engineering.
• 3+ years of related experience.
• Knowledge of systems engineering best practices, integration processes, design for manufacturing, and quality control.
• Demonstrated experience in requirement analysis, interface definition, and component and system-level verification and validation.
• Demonstrated experience with flight integration and environmental qualification (thermal, vibration, etc.).
• Understanding of subsystems and their thermal implications across the mission lifecycle.
• Background in active thermal control hardware or, thermal analysis.
• Demonstrated experience with spacecraft thermal control hardware design and development.
• Ability to perform simple thermal assessments via first principles/hand calculations.
• Experience with software tools such as DOORS, Jama, MATLAB, Cameo, Thermal Desktop etc. design and analysis tools.
• Demonstrated experience working interface control.
• Demonstrated experience with requirements relaxation and challenging requirements to facilitate hardware development cycle.

Preferred Qualifications

• M.S. degree in engineering.
• 5+ years of related experience.
• Strong communication skills, with an ability to quickly build consensus among stakeholders.
• Experience in space programs from concept through launch and operations.
• Hands on experience with satellite ground systems and mission operations.
• Experience with data analysis (Matlab, Excel, Winplot, etc.), and scripting (bash, sh, Python, etc.) tools.
• Experience evaluating make/buy decisions.
• Expertise in active thermal control hardware, with a proven track record of flight hardware delivery.
• Experience with sub assembly and/or system level thermal balance tests and post test design correlation and validation.

Base Pay Range for

CA applicants is $107,136.00 - $149,990.40
CO applicants is $98,208.00 - $137,491.20
WA applicants is $107,136.00 - $149,990.40
Other site ranges may differ

Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision, basic and supplemental life insurance.
• Paid parental leave.
• Short and long term disability.
• 401k with a company match of up to 5%.
• Education Support Program.
• Stock Options for all regular employees (working at least 20 hours/week).
• Paid Time Off: Up to four (4) weeks per year based on weekly scheduled hours, and up to 14 company paid holidays.
• Dependent on role type and job level, employees may be eligible for benefits and bonuses based on the company's intent to reward individual contributions and enable them to share in the company's results, or other factors at the company's sole discretion.
• Bonus amounts and eligibility are not guaranteed and subject to change and cancellation.

Export Control Regulations

Applicants for employment at Blue Origin must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (i.e. current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum.

Background Check Required

• Blue’s Standard Background Check for all positions.
• Defense Biometric Identification System (DBIDS) background check if at any time the role requires one to be on a military installation.
• Drivers who operate Commercial Motor Vehicles with a Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW), Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) or combination of power unit and trailer that meets or exceeds 10,001 lbs. and/or transports placardable amounts of hazardous materials by ground in any vehicle on a public road while in commerce, may be subject to additional Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations including: Driver Qualification Files, Medical Certification (obtained before onboarding), Road Test, Hours of Service, Drug and Alcohol Testing, vehicle inspection requirements, CDL requirements (if applicable) and hazardous materials transportation/shipping training.
• Ability to obtain and maintain Merchant Mariner Credential, which includes pre-employment and random drug testing as well as DOT physical.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Blue Origin is proud to be an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer and is committed to attracting, retaining, and developing a highly qualified and dedicated work force. Blue Origin hires and promotes people on the basis of their qualifications, performance, and abilities. We support the establishment and maintenance of a workplace that fosters trust, equality, and teamwork. We provide all qualified applicants for employment and employees with equal opportunities for hire, promotion, and other terms and conditions of employment, regardless of their race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin/ethnicity, age, physical or mental disability, genetic factors, military/veteran status, or any other status or characteristic protected by federal, state, and/or local law. Blue Origin will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with applicable federal, state, and local laws, including the Washington Fair Chance Act, the California Fair Chance Act, the Los Angeles Fair Chance in Hiring Ordinance, and other applicable laws. For more information on “Know Your Rights,” please see here. Applicants wishing to receive information on Blue Origin’s “Affirmative Action Plans”, or applicants requiring a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in the application and/or interview process, please contact us at [e-mail]. Please note this is a publicly managed inbox. Please do not include any personal medical information in your request. We are committed to building the road to space so our children can build the future. We are a mission-driven company focused on ideas and innovation, and encourage fresh perspectives from bold voices.

Culture Statement

Don’t meet all desired requirements? Studies have shown that some people are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single desired qualification. At Blue Origin, we are dedicated to building an authentic workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every desired qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

Company Overview

Blue Origin was founded with a vision to enable a future where millions of people are living and working in space to benefit Earth. In order to preserve Earth, Blue Origin believes in the need to enable humanity to expand, explore, find new energy and material resources, and move industries that stress Earth into space. Blue Origin believes it has an important role in building a road to space and lowering the cost of getting there. At Blue Origin, we’re working on this today by developing fully reusable launch vehicles and systems that are safe, reliable and affordable. Every launch vehicle is designed for human spaceflight from the beginning and able to ferry payloads to space.

Thank You

Thank you for your interest in working at Blue Origin!