Senior Thermal Engineer – Radiator

BLUE ORIGIN

Senior Thermal Engineer developing radiator designs for lunar landers at Blue Origin. Collaborating with cross-functional teams to ensure thermal performance and compliance.

Posted 6/5/2026full-timeGreater Seattle Area • California, Colorado, Florida, Washington • 🇺🇸 United StatesSenior💰 $144,179 - $219,522 per yearWebsite

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Perform as a senior thermal leader on the radiator panel design and analysis.
Directing the thermal analysis and collaborating with the senior structural analyst, and design for manufacturability groups on design fidelity and documentation.
Define and decompose Vehicle Thermal and Other subsystem-level requirements into actionable specifications within the Core Thermal-Fluids Heat transfer component domain to ensure our hardware meets vehicle needs.
Ownership of radiator component thermal design artifact sections such as the radiator design databook thermal inputs, PDR, CDR, TRR, and PRR documentation.
Conduct trade studies and make/buy decisions to determine hardware selection or optimization.
Drive verification and validation definition, including environmental testing, functional checks, and mission simulations.
Present your work during hardware design reviews along with the system engineering team (SRR, PDR, CDR) and ensure technical artifacts meet quality and compliance standards.
Peer review work on the broader thermal hardware team including participating as a TEC member on other team reviews.
Mentor junior engineers and foster a culture of technical excellence and cross-functional collaboration.
Ensuring alignment and synchronization of component analysis data with Vehicle system teams and interfacing subsystems such as Electrical Power, Liquids, Gas and GNC as required.
Reviewing system level & thermal subsystem level CONOPS information and distilling into useable datasets for consumption by the thermal hardware teams.
Verifying compliance of hardware designs against documented requirements (such as temperature limits, AT/QT effort and so on).
Facilitate and lead (as necessary) hardware risk, FMECA and FTA discussions with relevant stakeholders.

Requirements

What you’ll need

Minimum of a B.S. degree in mechanical or aerospace engineering
8 years of relevant Thermal Engineering experience
Solid understanding of thermal/fluid fundamentals
Proficiency in application of fundamentals to inform thermal and structural design such as interface sizing, material selection, and design element definition.
Understanding of aerospace hardware verification and validation process
Experience with CAD software; preferably Creo with Windchill
Familiarity with Thermal Desktop and Sinda/Fluint, including model validation and test correlation
Experience with design for manufacturability and aerospace design standards
Familiarity of structural design fundamentals related to spacecraft structures and thermal control hardware
Demonstrated experience working in cross-functional teams to deliver results
Strong communication skills, with an ability to quickly build consensus among stakeholders.
Must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum.
Desired: M.S. or PhD degree in mechanical or aerospace engineering
10+ years of related experience
Solid understanding spacecraft thermal control hardware including active and passive systems.
Knowledge of systems engineering best practices, integration processes, design for manufacturing, and quality control
Experience specifying and evaluating fluid systems to meet mechanical and structural design requirements.
Familiarity with qualification process for thermal systems including welded assemblies, bonded assemblies, and fittings.
Vendor technical management experience.
Experience solving a variety of thermal problems demonstrating breadth in application.
Experience maturing a design from requirements definition through hardware delivery.
Finite Element Analysis (FEA) tools (ANSYS preferred) experience

Benefits

Comp & perks

Medical, dental, vision, basic and supplemental life insurance
Paid parental leave
Short and long-term disability
401(k) with a company match of up to 5%
Education Support Program
Stock Options for all regular employees (working at least 20 hours/week)
Paid Time Off: Up to four (4) weeks per year based on weekly scheduled hours, and up to 14 company-paid holidays.
Dependent on role type and job level, employees may be eligible for benefits and bonuses based on the company's intent to reward individual contributions and enable them to share in the company's results, or other factors at the company's sole discretion. Bonus amounts and eligibility are not guaranteed and subject to change and cancellation.

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills & Tools

thermal engineeringthermal analysisdesign for manufacturabilitythermal/fluid fundamentalsfinite element analysismodel validationtest correlationfluid systems specificationaerospace design standardsthermal control hardware

Soft Skills

communication skillscross-functional collaborationmentoringtechnical excellencestakeholder consensus building