Thermal Engineer

Array Labs; Redwood City (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental, and vision coverage

401(k) with company match

Job summary

Array Labs seeks a Thermal Engineer to own the thermal design of radar satellites and payloads, from architecture to flight verification. You will lead the in-house thermal simulation framework, extend it as needed, and work with RF, electrical, mechanical, and systems engineers to ensure on-orbit performance.

You will define heat rejection architectures, design radiators and conduction paths, and run thermal vacuum campaigns to validate designs for a high-impact, real-time earth observation

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Aerospace, Physics, or STEM discipline.
• 3+ years of hardware experience in thermally constrained products.
• Strong Python coding and experience extending engineering analysis tools.
• Hands-on experience building, instrumenting, and testing thermal hardware.
• Solid grounding in heat transfer fundamentals.
• Excellent teamwork and communication skills.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, iterative design environment.

Responsibilities

• Define spacecraft and payload thermal architecture, including radiator sizing and conduction paths.
• Own, extend, and validate in-house Python thermal simulation framework for design decisions.
• Support board- and component-level thermal design with EE/RF engineers, including junction temp/derating analysis.
• Design, build, and test thermal hardware: radiators, interface materials, coatings, MLI, heaters, sensors.
• Plan and execute thermal vacuum and thermal balance test campaigns, correlate models to test/flight telemetry.
• Develop thermal requirements, interface control docs, and verification plans with systems engineering.

Skills

Python

Heat transfer

Thermal testing

Teamwork

Fast-paced work

Education

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical/Aerospace Engineering, Physics, or STEM

Master's or Ph.D. preferred

Job description

About Us

Array Labs builds advanced radar systems to help humanity understand and respond to changes across the physical world.

We're launching a coordinated fleet of radar satellites to create a high-resolution 3D map of the Earth - updated in real time - enabling faster, smarter decision-making for government and commercial organizations supporting disaster response, infrastructure resilience, and mission-critical geopolitical intelligence.

We design and build our satellites end-to-end, producing the world's most advanced earth observation satellites. Our fleet will deliver unprecedented levels of accuracy, coverage, and responsiveness to power critical insights precisely where they're needed most.

About The Job

As a Thermal Engineer, you will own the thermal design of Array's radar satellites and payloads, from architecture through flight verification. Spaceborne radar is fundamentally a thermal problem: high-power transmit amplifiers operating at high duty cycles in a small-satellite package, with tight temperature stability requirements driven by RF performance. You will own the in-house thermal simulation framework - extending its physics, validating it against test data, and using it to drive design decisions - while building, instrumenting, and testing flight hardware. You will define heat rejection architectures, design radiators and conduction paths, and run thermal vacuum campaigns, working closely with RF, electrical, mechanical, and systems engineers to make sure the hardware survives and performs on orbit.

As part of our quickly growing engineering team, you will play a critical role in the design of the world's most advanced radar satellite constellation- one that will significantly improve humanity's ability to rapidly and comprehensively understand our changing planet.

Responsibilities

• Define spacecraft and payload thermal architecture, including radiator sizing and conduction paths from high-power RF components to space.
• Own, extend, and validate Array's in-house Python thermal simulation framework, and use it to drive design decisions
• Support board- and component-level thermal design with electrical and RF engineers, including junction temperature and derating analysis.
• Design, build, and test thermal hardware: radiators, interface materials, coatings, MLI, heaters, and sensor instrumentation.
• Plan and execute thermal vacuum and thermal balance test campaigns, and correlate models against test and flight telemetry.
• Develop thermal requirements, interface control documentation, and verification plans with systems engineering.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering, Physics, or STEM degree.
• 3+ years of industry experience fielding hardware in thermally-constrained products.
• Strong coding proficiency preferably in Python and experience developing or extending engineering analysis tools - not just using them.
• Hands-on experience building, instrumenting, and testing thermal hardware.
• Strong grounding in heat transfer fundamentals.
• Excellent teamwork and communication skills.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, iterative design environment.

Preferred Skills and Experience

• Master's or Ph.D. in a related discipline.
• Experience with satellite thermal design and flight-proven hardware.
• Experience developing thermal or multiphysics simulation software: numerical methods, radiation view factors, transient solvers.
• Familiarity with software engineering practices: version control, testing, code review.
• Experience with thermal management of high-power RF electronics (GaN power amplifiers, phased arrays, high-dissipation boards).
• Familiarity with two-phase systems: heat pipes, loop heat pipes, or vapor chambers.
• Experience with commercial thermal tools (Thermal Desktop, SINDA/FLUINT, ANSYS) as a complement to in-house tooling.

Compensation & Benefits

Our hiring and compensation strategy is simple: find uncommonly good people and pay them uncommonly well.

We offer high flexibility between salary and equity-based compensation. Final candidates can choose from three compensation mixes: low, medium, or high equity. Equity is a significant component of total compensation, and we aim to provide meaningful ownership for this role.

Full-time employees enjoy a comprehensive benefits package including health, dental, and vision coverage, 401