Staff Thermal Engineer, Space

Anduril Industries
Costa Mesa, California, United StatesPosted 24 February 2026

Job Description

<div class="content-intro"><p>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.</p></div><h3>ABOUT THE TEAM</h3> <p>Anduril's Space team is dedicated to expanding our AI-powered capabilities into the final frontier, enhancing Space Domain Awareness, Space Control, and Command and Control for U.S. military and allied partners. We're developing fully integrated hardware and software systems, including Lattice for Space Missions and modular payloads, to address growing threats in space and ensure our Guardians maintain a decisive advantage in this contested war-fighting domain.</p> <h4>WHAT YOU’LL DO</h4> <ul> <li>Own the thermal design, analysis, test, and associated component vendor management of a space hardware development program.</li> <li>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.</li> <li>Define good thermal architecture to withstand the space environments. Define and quantify hot, cold, and any other edge cases that drive the system.</li> <li>Communicate pros/cons of system architecture with respect to thermal considerations.</li> <li>Present thermal status at formal reviews internally and with customers. Provide clear understanding of timelines and technical status.</li> <li>Develop internal tools to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of analysis.</li> <li>Develop, prepare, and execute thermal tests to inform analysis and reduce risk on key hardware assemblies.</li> <li>Develop a database of materials, thermal properties, and vendors of thermal hardware for use in space.</li> <li>Support failure reviews and root-cause analysis with test data and thermal analysis.</li> </ul> <h4>REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS</h4> <ul> <li>BS, MS, or higher degree in engineering, applied physics, or hard science</li> <li>Demonstrated knowledge of heat transfer in academic and/or professional setting</li> <li>Proficiency in Thermal Desktop or equivalent thermal simulation tool</li> <li>Hands on experience prototyping hardware and conducting thermal tests. Experience with CAD, selecting instrumentation, post-processing data, correlating models</li> <li>CAD experience (Siemens NX preferred)</li> <li>Passion for defending the United States and her allies</li> <li>Eligible to obtain and maintain an active U.S. security clearance</li> </ul> <h4>PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS</h4> <ul> <li>10+ years professional experience as a thermal analyst using Thermal Desktop</li> <li>Design or test experience on a space platform</li> <li>Experience developing code in higher-level languages like Python or MATLAB for applications like lumped thermal capacitance steady state and transient analysis</li> <li>Be able to obtain and hold a U.S. Top Secret security clearance.</li> </ul><div class="content-pay-transparency"><div class="pay-input"><div class="title">US Salary Range</div><div class="pay-range"><span>$191,000</span><span class="divider"></span><span>$253,000 USD</span></div></div></div><div class="content-conclusion"><p><span data-contrast="auto">The salary range for this role is an estimate based on a wide range of compensation factors, inclusive of base salary only. Actual salary offer may vary based on ... (truncated, view full listing at source)