Mid to Senior Spacecraft & Optical Payload Thermal Engineer

Job
Date Posted:
October,12 2026
The Space Dynamics Laboratory (SDL) is seeking an experienced Engineer to develop, analyze, integrate, and verify thermal-control solutions for NASA and DoW small satellites and precision optical payloads, from low Earth orbit to planetary missions. The engineer will support concept and requirements development, thermal architecture trades, preliminary and critical design reviews (PDR/CDR), flight-hardware build and integration, thermal-vacuum (TVAC) testing, thermal-balance model correlation, payload calibration, and flight delivery.

Depending on experience, the engineer may serve as a thermal or mechanical project technical lead and support proposals.

• Owns or contributes to spacecraft and optical-payload thermal architectures, requirements, interface definitions, trade studies, and thermal-control hardware selection
• Develops, maintains, and documents steady-state and transient thermal math models; evaluates orbital environments, operational cases, temperature limits, gradients, and design margins
• Prepares thermal analyses, verification matrices, design-review packages, and technical presentations for SRR, PDR, CDR, and test readiness reviews
• Works with mechanical, optical, electrical, systems, manufacturing, and integration teams to translate analysis into producible flight designs and resolve thermal interfaces
• Plans and supports thermal-balance and TVAC tests, including test configurations, instrumentation, procedures, chamber operations, anomaly resolution, data reduction, and model correlation
• Supports optical-payload TVAC calibration, thermal stability verification, as-built configuration evaluation, and flight acceptance/qualification activities
• Provides technical judgment on design margins, assumptions, risks, verification closure, and corrective actions; mentor less-experienced engineers as appropriate

• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a closely related technical field
• At least five years of relevant thermal engineering experience
• Demonstrated spacecraft, spaceflight payload, or closely comparable aerospace hardware thermal-design and analysis experience, including steady-state and transient modeling
• Proficiency in Thermal Desktop/SINDA/FLUINT or comparable spacecraft thermal-analysis tools, including independent model development, documentation, and interpretation
• Experience supporting formal engineering design reviews such as PDR/CDR, with thermal requirements, margins, trades, and verification products
• Experience planning, executing, analyzing, or correlating thermal-vacuum or thermal-balance tests of aerospace hardware
• Ability to collaborate across disciplines, communicate results clearly, defend engineering assumptions, and solve hardware-related thermal problems
• Must be a U.S. citizen and able to obtain a U.S. Government security clearance

• Master’s degree in mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, or a related field
• More than ten years of directly relevant experience
• Demonstrated end-to-end ownership of a spacecraft or payload thermal subsystem from concept through integration, environmental qualification, and flight delivery
• Experience with precision optical or infrared payloads, detector/focal-plane thermal management, thermal gradients, thermally induced alignment changes, and temperature stability
• Experience with optical-payload TVAC calibration, test-data reduction, thermal-model correlation, and test anomaly resolution
• Hands-on design/integration experience with MLI, radiators, thermal coatings, heat pipes, thermal straps, heaters, thermostats, sensors, and conductive interfaces
• Experience with cryocoolers, cryogenic instruments, or actively controlled optical assemblies
• Familiarity with NASA, DoD, or ECSS spacecraft thermal verification and environmental test practices
• Experience using Python, MATLAB, or similar tools for thermal analysis automation and test-data processing
• Experience leading multidisciplinary technical efforts, mentoring engineers, and contributing to proposal estimates and thermal-design approaches

• $102,000 - $160,000
  • Salary commensurate on education and relevant experience

This range serves as a general guideline and may vary based on factors such as role, level, location, market conditions, and individual qualifications, including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. The range displayed in the job advertisement…