Thermal Engineer, Thermal Protection Systems (TPS)

Anduril-1; Mountain View (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

Anduril Industries in Mountain View, CA, is seeking a Thermal Engineer specializing in Thermal Protection Systems (TPS) to own the design, analysis, and validation of TPS for hypersonic and high-speed flight platforms.

You will perform aerothermal heating analyses, ablation and material response modeling, and develop thermal models from hand calculations to CFD/FEA to guide critical design decisions and ensure thermal survivability.

Qualifications

• MS or PhD in AE/ME with a focus on aerothermodynamics, heat transfer, or materials science.
• 2+ years in TPS design, aerothermal analysis, or high-temperature material response.
• Strong first-principles understanding of aerodynamic heating and material response.
• Experience with ablation/thermal response codes such as FIAT, CMA, TITAN.

Responsibilities

• Own TPS design, material selection, and thermal analysis for hypersonic and high-speed flight vehicles.
• Perform aerothermal heating analysis across flight trajectories using correlations, boundary-layer methods, and CFD.
• Conduct ablation and material response modeling to predict TPS recession and thermal margins.
• Evaluate TPS materials (carbon phenolic, PICA, silicone ablators, ceramics, composites) for loads and manufacturability.
• Partner with aerodynamics, structures, propulsion, and systems engineers to integrate TPS into design.
• Define and execute thermal/material characterization tests (arcjet, furnace, flight-article testing).
• Build thermal models from hand calculations to detailed FEA/CFD to predict performance.
• Present TPS status, risks, and recommendations in reviews.
• Support failure reviews using test data and first-principles reasoning.

Skills

Aerothermodynamics

Heat transfer

CFD analysis

First-principles calculations

Material response modeling

Education

MS or PhD in Aerospace/Mechanical Engineering

Tools

FIAT

CMA

TITAN

Job description

Thermal Engineer, Thermal Protection Systems (TPS)

Mountain View, California, United States

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 enables Anduril's rapid hardware development cycle by ensuring advanced defense systems perform reliably in demanding real-world environments. The team works across high-power, tightly integrated products where thermal architecture, analysis, testing, and cross-functional design decisions directly affect product performance, reliability, and mission success.

About the Role

We are looking for a Thermal Engineer specializing in Thermal Protection Systems (TPS) to join our team. In this role, you will own the design, analysis, and validation of thermal protection for hypersonic and high-speed flight systems operating in extreme aerothermal environments.

This role is ideal for someone with deep expertise in aerothermal heating, ablative material response, and high-temperature thermal analysis — someone who can work across first-principles hand calculations, material response modeling, and detailed CFD to guide fast, high-consequence design decisions for systems where thermal survival is the critical constraint.

What You'll Do

• Own TPS design, material selection, and thermal analysis for hypersonic and high-speed flight vehicles, including missiles, reentry systems, and advanced flight platforms.
• Perform aerothermal heating analysis using engineering correlations, boundary-layer methods, and CFD to define the thermal environment across flight trajectories.
• Conduct ablation and material response modeling to predict TPS recession, in-depth thermal response, and structural thermal margins under mission-representative conditions.
• Evaluate and select TPS materials, including carbon phenolic, PICA, silicone-based ablators, ceramics, and high-temperature composites, based on aerothermal loads, mass constraints, and manufacturability.
• Partner with aerodynamics, structures, propulsion, and systems engineers to integrate TPS into vehicle design while managing mass, volume, and performance tradeoffs.
• Define and execute thermal and material characterization tests, including arcjet testing, furnace testing, and instrumented flight-article thermal testing.
• Build and maintain thermal models spanning hand calculations through detailed FEA/CFD to predict system performance, establish design limits, and support qualification.
• Present TPS status, risks, tradeoffs, and recommendations in internal design reviews and customer-facing technical reviews.
• Support failure reviews and root-cause investigations using test data, thermal analysis, and first-principles reasoning.

Required Qualifications

• MS or PhD in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Applied Physics, or a related field with a focus on aerothermodynamics, heat transfer, thermal sciences, or materials science.
• 2+ years of experience in TPS design, aerothermal analysis, or high-temperature material response for aerospace or defense systems.
• Strong first-principles understanding of aerodynamic heating, ablation, high-temperature heat transfer, and material thermal response.
• Experience with material response modeling tools such as FIAT, CMA, TITAN, or equivalent ablation/thermal response codes.
• Experience supporting thermal design for hypersonic vehicles, reentry systems, missiles, rocket nozzles,