Thermal Engineer, Environmental Control SystemsNew$171K

Anduril Industries
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The opportunity

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…

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.

What they're looking for

  • 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.