Senior Thermal Engineer

Anduril Anduril · Defense · Costa Mesa, CA · Hardware Engineering : Mechanical Engineering

Anduril Industries is a defense technology company seeking a Senior Thermal Analysis Engineer to own the thermal design and analysis of drones, aircraft, or missiles. The role involves using first principles, defining thermal architecture, performing hand calculations, spreadsheet, and MATLAB/Python models, documenting power dissipations, owning thermal FEA/CFD models, defining design limits, executing prototype builds and tests, presenting at reviews, developing internal tools, and supporting failure analysis. Requires a MS or higher degree in engineering or applied physics with a focus on heat transfer and fluid dynamics, 5+ years of experience in thermal systems design for integrated hardware products, experience in the aerospace industry, practical experience with passive and active thermal management systems, thermal testing experience, thermal FEA experience (STAR-CCM+, ANSYS, Icepak, or Flotherm), CAD experience (SolidWorks or Siemens NX), and the ability to obtain a U.S. Top Secret security clearance. Preferred qualifications include experience with Python or MATLAB for thermal analysis.

What you'd actually do

  1. Own the thermal design and analysis of a drone, aircraft, or missile.
  2. Use first principles as a basis for every decision and discern the right level of analysis to apply. Execute hand calculations, spreadsheet, and MATLAB/Python first-order models to inform path forward before jumping into detailed design.
  3. Define good thermal architecture to withstand rugged environments and demanding flight envelopes. Define hot, cold, and any other edge cases that need to be analyzed based on industry standards and intended use.
  4. Work with engineers in other disciplines to document power dissipations under different operating modes.
  5. Communicate pros/cons of system architecture with respect to thermal considerations.

Skills

Required

  • MS or higher degree in engineering or applied physics with focus on heat transfer and fluid dynamics
  • In-depth understanding of heat transfer and fluid dynamics
  • Experience in the aerospace industry and an aircraft, rocket, or missile program
  • 5+ years of experience designing thermal systems for integrated hardware products
  • Practical experience designing passive and active thermal management systems
  • Thermal testing experience –sensor selection, data acquisition, data post-processing
  • Thermal FEA experience –STAR-CCM+, ANSYS, Icepak, or Flotherm
  • CAD experience with SolidWorks or Siemens NX
  • Ability to obtain and hold a U.S. Top Secret security clearance

Nice to have

  • Experience developing code in higher-level languages like Python or MATLAB for applications like lumped thermal capacitance steady state and transient analysis

What the JD emphasized

  • In-depth understanding of heat transfer and fluid dynamics
  • Experience in the aerospace industry and an aircraft, rocket, or missile program
  • 5+ years of experience designing thermal systems for integrated hardware products
  • Thermal testing experience
  • Thermal FEA experience
  • CAD experience
  • Be able to obtain and hold a U.S. Top Secret security clearance