Thermal Engineer

Powerus; Charlotte (NC); On-site; USD 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Powerus is seeking an experienced Thermal Engineer in Charlotte, NC to own end-to-end thermal behavior for avionics, propulsion, power electronics, and payload assemblies. Build models, define heat rejection, design cooling paths, and validate with chamber and flight data.

Collaborate with avionics, power, payload, airframe, and test engineering to ensure safe operation under altitude and environmental conditions; grow the thermal discipline across the program.

Qualifications

• Degree in mechanical or aerospace engineering or equivalent practical experience.
• Experience performing thermal analysis of hardware, including modeling and hand calculations.
• Ability to read and interpret thermal test data.
• U.S. Person status required; ITAR/EAR access restrictions apply.

Responsibilities

• Build steady-state and transient thermal models of avionics, propulsion, power electronics, and payload assemblies, and keep them current as the designs move
• Perform computational fluid dynamics and airflow analysis for enclosures, cooling passages, inlets, and exhaust paths
• Define heat rejection strategy for each subsystem, choosing conduction paths, convection, heat spreading, and mounting interface design
• Specify heat sinks, thermal interface materials, fans and ducting, and coordinate fit and mass impact with mechanical and airframe design
• Set component temperature limits and derating guidance with electrical and avionics engineers, and track thermal margin as a budget
• Analyze environmental and altitude effects on cooling, including reduced air density, ambient extremes, solar load, and ground operation before takeoff
• Plan and run thermal testing - thermocouple and imaging instrumentation, chamber runs, bench soak and mission-profile tests, and in-flight temperature capture
• Correlate models against measured data, document assumptions that survived, and close the gap between predicted and observed behavior
• Support thermal troubleshooting on prototypes and production units, from hot parts on benches to temperature-driven faults in the field

Skills

Thermal modeling

CFD analysis

Thermal testing

Heat transfer fundamentals

Matlab/Simulations

Education

Bachelor's degree in mechanical or aerospace engineering

Tools

ANYS Fluent

SolidWorks

MATLAB

Job description

Powerus is building a next-generation American autonomous systems platform designed to move, protect, and sustain critical assets in high-consequence environments. The company combines advanced autonomy, manufacturing capability, operational expertise, and strategic acquisitions to support defense, national security, critical infrastructure, and commercial operations globally.

Mission

Our mission is to deliver resilient autonomous technologies that strengthen national security, improve operational safety, and expand the capabilities of organizations operating in complex environments.

Why Join Powerus

Heat is what an unmanned aircraft cannot throw away easily. There is little airflow to spare, little mass to sink into, and every watt that a processor, an inverter, or a sensor turns into heat has to leave the vehicle through a surface that was sized for something else. As Powerus fields denser electronics on longer missions and in hotter places, thermal stops being a late check on a design and becomes one of the constraints that sets it.

This role owns that constraint across the vehicle. You will build the thermal picture for avionics, propulsion, and payloads, decide where heat goes and how it gets there, and then prove it with instrumented hardware in a chamber and in flight. It is a seat where a modeling assumption you make in week one is either confirmed or embarrassed by a thermocouple a few months later.

Position Overview

Thermal behavior at Powerus cuts across every discipline, and this role is the one that owns it end to end. This position requires U.S. Person status, as the work involves access to export-controlled technical data. You will build thermal and airflow models of avionics enclosures, motors and power electronics, and payload assemblies, set heat rejection strategy for each, and design the cooling paths, heat sinks, interfaces, and ducting that carry it out. You will work with avionics, power, payload, airframe, and test engineering, and you will validate your own models against chamber and flight data rather than handing them off.

Key Responsibilities

• Build steady-state and transient thermal models of avionics, propulsion, power electronics, and payload assemblies, and keep them current as the designs move
• Perform computational fluid dynamics and airflow analysis for enclosures, cooling passages, inlets, and exhaust paths
• Define heat rejection strategy for each subsystem, choosing between conduction paths, forced or natural convection, heat spreading, and mounting interface design
• Specify heat sinks, thermal interface materials, fans and ducting, and coordinate their fit and mass impact with mechanical and airframe design
• Set component temperature limits and derating guidance with electrical and avionics engineers, and track thermal margin as a managed budget
• Analyze environmental and altitude effects on cooling, including reduced air density, ambient extremes, solar load, and ground operation before takeoff
• Plan and run thermal testing - thermocouple and imaging instrumentation, chamber runs, bench soak and mission-profile tests, and in-flight temperature capture
• Correlate models against measured data, close the gap between predicted and observed behavior, and document the assumptions that survived
• Support thermal troubleshooting on prototypes and production units, from a hot part on a bench to a temperature-driven fault in the field

Qualifications

• Must be located in the United States, within commuting distance of Charlotte, NC, and able to work on-site
• Degree in mechanical or aerospace engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience
• Experience performing thermal analysis of hardware, including modeling and the hand calculations that sanity-check it
• Working understanding of conduction, convection, and radiation as they apply to electronics and machinery in real packaging
• Familiarity with computational fluid dynamics or thermal simulation tools and the limits of what their results mean
• Hands-on test experience - placing instrumentation, running a thermal test, and reading the data honestly
• U.S. Person status required (U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, or protected individual under 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3)); this role involves access to ITAR- and EAR-controlled technical data

Preferred Qualifications

• Thermal work on UAV, aerospace, automotive, or other weight and volume constrained platforms
• Electronics cooling experience, including board-level thermal design and enclosure airflow
• Motor, inverter, or battery thermal management, including cooling under sustained high current
• Model correlation against chamber or flight test data, and the documentation that comes with it
• Familiarity with environmental test standards covering temperature, altitude, and humidity
• Exposure to thermal design for sensors or optical payloads where stability matters as much as maximum temperature

What We Look For

We are looking for an engineer who respects the difference between a model and a measurement. This work rewards people who chase the missing degrees rather than adjust a boundary condition until the plot looks right, who ask what the aircraft is doing on the ramp in August before sizing a fan, and who can tell an electrical engineer plainly that a part will not survive where they want to put it. You should be comfortable owning a problem that belongs to no single subsystem and is blamed on all of them.

Equal Opportunity Statement

Powerus is an equal opportunity employer committed to building a diverse and mission-driven workforce. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.