Senior Thermal Engineer

Shape the future of in-space manufacturing. As a Senior Thermal Analysis Engineer at Varda, you'll own thermal architecture for vehicles that ascend, operate on orbit, and return to Earth — from first-principles hand calculations to flight-anchored models. This is a rare role with full lifecycle exposure: concept, design, production, integration, test, and live mission operations.

You'll serve as the thermal authority across the vehicle engineering team, interfacing with structures, avionics, GNC, and mission operations to ensure every component and system survives every environment, every phase. A proactive problem-solving mindset and comfort with tight schedules are essential — as is a genuine curiosity about the physics of heat and mass transfer.

• →Develop and maintain integrated thermal analysis models for Varda's space vehicles across all mission phases, from ascent through reentry
• →Define passive and active thermal control architecture — MLI blankets, optical coatings, heaters, heat pipes, and more — with a bias toward operational simplicity and system robustness
• →Predict thermal loads and provide guidance for component-level acceptance and qualification testing
• →Plan and execute vehicle-level Thermal Vacuum (TVac) test campaigns for future vehicles
• →Anchor thermal models to TVac and flight data; continuously assess performance and improve model fidelity
• →Publish flight temperature predictions and active thermal control outputs to support hardware teams, energy budgets, and mission operations
• →Flex between quick hand calculations and detailed analysis to support program decisions and assess vehicle risk
• →Contribute to thermal team data processing and documentation workflows as vehicle production and mission operations scale
• →Mentor junior engineers and serve as a technical peer reviewer
• →Work collaboratively with other disciplines to define thermal hardware requirements (optical properties, conductances, insulation, attitude control, etc.)

Minimum qualifications:

• BS in Mechanical, Aerospace, or related engineering + 5 years of related professional experience, or MS + 3 years
• Experience developing passive and active thermal control systems
• Proficiency in Thermal Desktop, SINDA/FLUINT, ANSYS, or MSC Nastran
• Experience anchoring thermal models to test and/or flight data
• Experience in planning and executing TVac testing
• MATLAB (or equivalent) for data processing and task automation
• Ability to structure open-ended problems and perform initial sizing with hand calculations
• Experience with 0D and 1D thermal and/or fluid networks
• Familiarity with thermal margins and test requirements per SMC-S-016
• Strong written and verbal communication skills across disciplines (structures, avionics, software, GNC, production, etc.)

Preferred qualifications:

• 7–10+ years of related professional experience
• Experience across the full spacecraft lifecycle — concept through mission operations
• Familiarity with spacecraft thermal control technologies (heat pipes, pumped fluid systems, thermal blankets, optical coatings)
• Experience in thermal design and analysis of reentry systems
• Project management or technical leadership experience

• Varda, like all employers, must ensure that its employees working in the United States are lawfully authorized to work in the U.S.  Additionally, our employees are exposed to and have access to certain export-controlled items. At present, some of our technology to which employees have access requires a license to be exported to individuals other than “U.S. Persons” as defined in U.S. export regulations. Because our employees are provided access to export-controlled items, our current policy is to only hire “U.S. persons” who are permitted to have access to our technology without an export license. 

  “US person” means: U.S. citizen, U.S. lawful permanent resident, or protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3) (i.e., individual admitted to the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum in the U.S.)

   Learn more about the ITAR here.  

Varda Space Industries, Inc. participates in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security E-Verify program. The E-Verify program is an Internet-based employment eligibility verification system operated by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Learn more about the E-Verify program.

E-Verify Notice                                                               Right To Work Notice

Read more                                                                             Read more