Senior Thermal Engineer

Job Title: Senior Thermal Engineer
Job Location: Laurel, MD 20723
Duration: 18 Months Contract

We have an outstanding Contract position for a Senior Thermal Engineer to join a leading Company located in the Laurel, MD surrounding area.

We are seeking an experienced spacecraft thermal engineer to help us develop one-of-a-kind spacecraft, payloads, and thermal control systems. Depending on the size and scope of the effort, you may serve as a senior technical contributor on a large program or lead the thermal engineering effort for a smaller project. You will join a multidisciplinary team of engineers who conceive, develop, analyze, test, launch, and fly spacecraft systems.

Duties: Dragonfly support to help with thermal testing in spring (right now DragonFly is with IT.) This focuses on lander testing in early 2028 and gets tested once more before launches in 2028. experience with installing thermal hardware and experience running and setting up testing, experience correlating large spacecraft models, analysis capabilities with knowing what goes well with testing, experience with aerospace and thermal experience. must have thermal desktop experience.

Job Responsibilities:

• Your primary responsibility will be to lead or contribute to spacecraft thermal control system design, analysis, and testing.
• You will develop thermal models and conduct analyses using software such as Thermal Desktop.
• You will support thermal testing, including generating test plans and specifications, analyzing test data, and correlating models.
• You will assist with spacecraft integration, including procedure development, activity coordination, and installation oversight.
• You will conduct and communicate thermal design trade studies that balance performance margins, resource use, risk, cost, and
• schedule, and present thermal engineering results at peer reviews, design reviews, and other major technical reviews.
• You will mentor early-career thermal engineers.

Basic Hiring Criteria:

• Have a Bachelor's in Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering or equivalent.
• Have 10+ years of experience in spacecraft or instrument thermal engineering, including thermal design, analysis, and testing
• across multiple phases of the development lifecycle.
• Have a strong foundation in heat transfer theory and proficiency using Thermal Desktop.
• Have proven experience independently leading thermal engineering tasks or small technical teams.

Desired Qualifications:

• Have an MS or PhD in Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering or equivalent.
• Have experience with airflow modeling, including forced and natural convection, and advanced Thermal Desktop capabilities such as FloCAD or TD Direct.