TPS Engineer for Hypersonic Flight

Anduril Industries; Mountain View (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 186,000; Full time

Job summary

Anduril Industries is seeking a Thermal Engineer focused on Thermal Protection Systems for hypersonic and high-speed flight. You will own the TPS design, analysis, and validation essential for thermal survival in extreme aerothermal environments.

You will apply first-principles methods, ablation modeling, and CFD to guide rapid, high-consequence decisions and work with cross-disciplinary teams to integrate TPS into aircraft and missile platforms.

Qualifications

• MS or PhD in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Applied Physics, or a related field with aerothermodynamics focus.
• 2+ years of TPS design/aerothermal analysis or high-temperature material response experience.
• Strong first-principles understanding of aerodynamic heating and material thermal response.
• Experience with material response modeling tools (FIAT, CMA, TITAN).
• Experience supporting thermal design for hypersonic vehicles or related extreme aerothermal environments.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Top Secret security clearance.

Responsibilities

• Own TPS design, material selection, and thermal analysis for hypersonic vehicles, missiles, and reentry systems.
• Perform aerothermal heating analysis using correlations, boundary-layer methods, and CFD.
• Model ablation and material response to predict recession and thermal margins.
• Evaluate TPS materials (carbon phenolic, PICA, silicones, ceramics, CMCs) for loads and manufacturability.
• Collaborate with aerodynamics, structures, propulsion and systems engineers on integration.
• Define and execute thermal/material characterization tests (arcjet, furnace, flight-article).
• Build thermal models from hand calculations to full CFD/FEA for design limits and qualification.
• Present TPS status and risks in reviews; support root-cause investigations.

Skills

TPS design

Ablation modeling

Aerothermal analysis

CFD

Material selection

Top Secret clearance

Education

MS/PhD in aerospace/ mechanical/ applied physics

Tools

FIAT

CMA

TITAN

DPLR

US3D

Loci-CHEM

CFD++

ANSYS Fluent

STAR-CCM+

Job description

Anduril Industries is seeking a Thermal Engineer focused on Thermal Protection Systems for hypersonic and high-speed flight. You will own the TPS design, analysis, and validation essential for thermal survival in extreme aerothermal environments.

You will apply first-principles methods, ablation modeling, and CFD to guide rapid, high-consequence decisions and work with cross-disciplinary teams to integrate TPS into aircraft and missile platforms.