Thermal Engineer: Space Phased-Array Systems

Blue Origin; Cupertino (CA); On-site; USD 131,000 - 183,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

401(k) match

Paid parental leave

Paid time off

Job summary

Blue Origin seeks a Thermal Engineer to own the thermal design of our phased array antennas and ground terminals. You will model transient heat transfer, specify interfaces, and drive margins and verification plans on a fast-scaling program.

You’ll work across RF, electronics, and structures to balance heat rejection, mass, and cost while mentoring teammates and ensuring production readiness.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Physics, or related field.
• 5+ years in thermal engineering for aerospace, RF systems, or high-power-density electronics.
• Spaceborne thermal design experience: vacuum, radiation heat transfer, flight hardware qualification.
• Strong grasp of phased array thermal challenges - dense front-end integration, high areal power density, and the coupling between junction temperature and RF efficiency.
• Proficiency with thermal modeling tools (Thermal Desktop, SINDA/FLUINT, ANSYS Icepak, or equivalent).
• Working knowledge of materials, coatings, and interface technologies for space and outdoor terrestrial hardware.
• Familiarity with environmental and qualification standards (NASA, ESA, MIL-STD or similar).

Responsibilities

• Own thermal architecture for satellite phased array payloads - RF front ends, beamforming ICs, power electronics - and for ground terminal arrays.
• Build and run transient thermal models of dense multi-chip board stacks, from die junction out to structure and radiators.
• Drive the interface design that governs performance: mounting and preload, interface materials and bondlines, heat pipes, spreaders, thermal storage.
• Define the duty-cycle and operational limits the constellation flies to, working with operations and planning teams so thermal constraints show up as capacity rather than surprises.
• Run architecture-level trades and quantify what each buys in degrees, kilograms, and dollars per unit.
• Set requirements, margins, and verification plans; execute thermal test articles and correlate models to test.
• Design for a high-rate production line. A solution that works once but can't be built repeatably at takt isn't a solution here.
• Mentor engineers and help establish how thermal engineering is practiced on a fast-scaling program.

Skills

Thermal engineering

Aerospace RF systems

Heat transfer

Thermal modeling

Education

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical/Aerospace/Physics

Master's degree

Tools

Thermal Desktop

SINDA/FLUINT

ANSYS Icepak

Job description

Blue Origin seeks a Thermal Engineer to own the thermal design of our phased array antennas and ground terminals. You will model transient heat transfer, specify interfaces, and drive margins and verification plans on a fast-scaling program.

You’ll work across RF, electronics, and structures to balance heat rejection, mass, and cost while mentoring teammates and ensuring production readiness.