Staff Thermal Engineer

About the role

Vast is looking for a Staff Thermal Engineer to support the development of systems required for the design and build of human-rated space stations. This full-time, exempt position is located in Long Beach and reports to the Senior Manager, Thermal Analysis.

Responsibilities

• Develop thermal systems requirements
• Perform thermal analysis to develop and optimize thermal control designs and provide solutions to a wide range of difficult problems
• Coordinate and partner with other engineering disciplines
• Document thermal analyses and designs
• Review and approve drawings for thermal design hardware content
• Report results of analyses and design specifics to internal management and external customers
• Work with test engineering to plan and execute subsystem level thermal tests, especially thermal vacuum chamber (TVAC) testing, as well as perform associated analyses
• Provide feedback regarding impacts of possible cost and/or schedule changes

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, Physics, or related Engineering discipline with a minimum of 10+ years of related professional work experience, or a Master's degree in a related engineering discipline and 5+ years of experience
• Knowledge and understanding of the application of technical principles, theories, and concepts for developing active thermal control systems
• Expert with thermal analysis tool: Thermal Desktop
• Extensive experience with TVAC testing

Skills

• Design, analysis and integration experience of spacecraft thermal systems
• Experience using other thermal analysis tools (FloCAD, Ansys Mechanical, SINDA/G, SINDA/FLUINT, TSS)
• Experience using fluid analysis tools like Ansys Fluent, FloEFD, StarCCM+
• Experience using aerospace standard design tools (NX, CATIA, CREO)
• Experience with space vehicle thermal design and/or integration
• Experience with active and passive thermal control systems and technologies (pumped fluid loops, heat pipes, etc.)
• Spacecraft and/or Payload background with experience through the entire system lifecycle from concept, design, production, integration, test, launch, to operation support
• Ability to develop novel concepts for active thermal control systems for space habitats

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision coverage for employees and dependents
• Generous paid time off: up to 20+ days of vacation for exempt staff and up to 10+ days for non-exempt staff, with the ability to cash-out unused vacation annually
• Paid parental leave
• Short and long-term disability insurance
• Life insurance
• Access to a 401(k) retirement plan
• Company equity
• ClassPass credits
• Personalized mental healthcare through Spring Health
• Other discounts and perks
• Onsite food perks: free snacks, drip coffee, barista, cold drinks, and dinner meals; subsidized lunch

Pay

California pay range: $175,480—$249,096 USD. Base salary varies depending on job-related knowledge, education, skills, experience, business needs, and market demand.

U.S. export control compliance: The person hired must be a “U.S. person” as defined by 22 C.F.R. 120.62 or otherwise eligible for deemed export licensing.