Thermal Engineer, Environmental Control Systems

Anduril Industries, Inc.; Costa Mesa (CA); Hybrid; USD 129,000 - 171,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity grants

Competitive benefits package

Job summary

Anduril Industries, Inc. in Costa Mesa, CA is seeking a Thermal Engineer to own the thermal management and environmental control systems for air vehicles and advanced defense platforms.

The role focuses on applying heat transfer and fluid dynamics to keep avionics and propulsion subsystems within limits across all flight conditions. You will lead design, modeling, testing, and validation, working with cross-functional teams to optimize performance, weight, and reliability.

Qualifications

• Strong first-principles understanding of heat transfer and fluid dynamics
• Experience modeling thermal systems and using test data to drive design decisions
• Ability to communicate tradeoffs across engineering, program, and customer stakeholders
• U.S. TS security clearance capable or clearable

Responsibilities

• Own the thermal design and analysis of vehicle thermal management and ECS—from component level to full vehicle
• Develop steady-state and transient models of coolant, fuel, hydraulic and lubrication circuits
• Define thermal architecture and heat-sink strategy for minimal heat loads and reliable operation
• Size heat exchangers, cold plates, pumps, fans, and valves; evaluate vendor hardware
• Lead prototype builds, ground testing, and validation of ECS designs
• Present thermal status and tradeoffs at reviews with timelines and status

Skills

First principles thinking

Clear communication

Team collaboration

Education

MS or PhD in Mechanical/Aerospace Engineering

Tools

Simcenter Amesim

Simscape

GT-SUITE

MATLAB

Python

Job description

Thermal Engineer, Environmental Control Systems

Anduril Industries is a defense technology company with a mission to transform U.S. and allied military capabilities with advanced technology. By bringing the expertise, technology, and business model of the 21st century’s most innovative companies to the defense industry, Anduril is changing how military systems are designed, built and sold. Anduril’s family of systems is powered by Lattice OS, an AI-powered operating system that turns thousands of data streams into a realtime, 3D command and control center. As the world enters an era of strategic competition, Anduril is committed to bringing cutting-edge autonomy, AI, computer vision, sensor fusion, and networking technology to the military in months, not years.

About the Team

The Thermal Engineering team's work is essential to support our rapid innovation cycle and maintain the performance and reliability of advanced defense technologies. Thermal Engineers own the full development life cycle from conceptual design through prototyping, ground and flight testing, and operational deployment, ensuring high-performance, resilient systems that meet the demands of complex, contested environments.

About the Role

We are looking for a Thermal Engineer in Costa Mesa, CA to own the thermal management and environmental control systems (ECS) of air vehicles and other advanced defense platforms. You will apply a deep understanding of heat transfer, fluid dynamics, and thermal systems to keep avionics, payloads, power, and propulsion subsystems within their limits across the full mission envelope, from hot-day ground operations to high-altitude flight.

What You'll Do

• Own the thermal design and analysis of vehicle thermal management and ECS—air-cycle, ram-air, bleed-air, and liquid cooling loops—from component and cold plate level up through the full vehicle.
• Use first principles to discern the right level of analysis, running hand calcs, spreadsheets, and MATLAB/Python first-order models before detailed design.
• Define thermal management architecture and heat-sink strategy—ram-air and air-cycle cooling, vapor-cycle systems, liquid coolant loops, fuel as a heat sink, and thermal energy storage—to keep equipment within limits as heat loads scale.
• Size and rate heat exchangers, cold plates, pumps, fans, and valves, and evaluate vendor hardware against system requirements.
• Develop steady-state and transient system models of coolant, fuel, hydraulic, and lubrication circuits in tools such as Simcenter Amesim, Simscape, or GT-SUITE to predict performance across ground, climb, cruise, and off-nominal conditions.
• Work with avionics, propulsion, power, structures, and systems engineers to characterize heat loads and define thermal requirements and interfaces across operating and failure modes.
• Weigh thermal architectures against performance, weight, power draw, reliability, and cost, driving trade studies that balance thermal margin with vehicle-level impact.
• Own the thermal system models, correlate them to test and flight data, and set red/yellow limits for test and operation.
• Lead prototype builds, ground testing, and validation of thermal management and ECS designs (CAD, sensor and DAQ selection, data post-processing, results).
• Present thermal status and tradeoffs at internal and customer reviews with a clear view of timelines and technical status.
• Develop internal tools to improve analysis effectiveness and efficiency.
• Support failure reviews and root-cause analysis with test data and thermal analysis.

Required Qualifications

• MS or PhD in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Applied Physics, or a related field with a focus on heat transfer, fluid dynamics, thermal sciences, or thermal systems
• Strong first-principles understanding of heat transfer and fluid dynamics, including conduction, convection, radiation, fluid flow, and transient thermal behavior
• Experience using thermal analysis, modeling, simulation, and/or physical test data to drive design decisions for passive or active thermal management systems
• Ability to communicate technical tradeoffs clearly across engineering, program, and customer stakeholders
• Ability to obtain and hold a U.S. Top Secret security clearance

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with thermal system modeling software such as Simcenter Amesim, Simscape, or GT-SUITE
• Experience using MATLAB, Python, spreadsheets, or similar tools for first-order thermal modeling, transient analysis, or engineering trade studies
• CAD experience with Siemens NX, SolidWorks, or comparable tools
• Experience with thermal management, environmental control systems (ECS), air-conditioning, bleed-air, or ram-air systems
• Experience with analysis and modeling of hydraulic, fuel, coolant, or lubrication circuits
• Experience with heat exchanger sizing and rating

US Salary Range

$129,000 - $171,000 USD

The salary range for this role is an estimate based on a wide range of compensation factors, inclusive of base salary only. Actual salary offer may vary based on (but not limited to) work experience, education and/or training, critical skills, and/or business considerations. Highly competitive equity grants are included in the majority of full time offers; and are considered part of Anduril's total compensation package.

At Anduril, we invest in our people. Our comprehensive, competitive benefits package (available at little to no cost to employees) ensures you’re supported in health, recovery, and whatever comes next. For more information, Explore Our Benefits .

As set forth in Anduril Industries’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy,we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey.Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiringprocess or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in aconfidential file.

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection.As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measurethe effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categoriesis as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.