Senior Mechanical Engineer - Thermal & Structural Analysis

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Location:

San Diego, CA, US, 92127

Job

DRS Daylight Solutions business provides industry-changing mid-infrared laser light technology for government and commercial markets, including: defense and security; life sciences; and industrial process control. As a mid-IR technology pioneer, Daylight Solutions has delivered more mid-IR systems to more applications world-wide than any other company.

Business Unit:
Daylight Solutions

Location:

San Diego
Career

Functional Area:

Engineering
Telework Type:
Onsite
Relocation Available:
Yes
Type:

Full Time Permanent

Schedule:

9/80
Shift: 1st

The Senior Mechanical Engineer - Thermal & Structural Analysis at Daylight Solutions will be responsible for advanced simulation and analysis to predict structural, thermal, and coupled physics behavior of electro-optical and laser systems. This position will leverage expertise across finite element analysis, load & boundary definition, and test correlation to support the design and development of opto-mechanical assemblies for challenging environments.

Collaborating with interdisciplinary teams, this position offers the opportunity to innovate and lead technical initiatives critical to product advancement in the aerospace, defense, and scientific sectors.

• Perform advanced FEA tasks, including static, dynamic, modal, random vibration, and transient & steady state thermal analysis.
• Develop, prepare, and validate load scenarios, boundary conditions, meshing strategies, and material properties for high-fidelity models.
• Execute coupled loads analyses where mechanical, thermal, and flow effects interact.
• Correlate simulation results with experimental data to refine models and validate performance.
• Collaborate with optical and mechanical engineers to support Structural‑Thermal‑Optical (STOP) analysis to ensure system‑level optical requirements are met.
• Support environmental testing of hardware, including vibration, shock, and thermal testing.
• Investigate product problems and provide corrective actions that improve yield and predictability.
• Present technical findings and recommendations to cross‑disciplinary teams and stakeholders.
• Maintain and improve analysis workflows, automation, and reusable templates.
• Provide mentorship to junior engineers and foster the development of engineering continuous improvement initiatives.

• Proficiency with ANSYS toolchain for the analyses in this role, including ANSYS Mechanical (Structural), ANSYS Workbench, and ANSYS Fluent (CFD), with the ability to build, solve, post‑process, and package review‑ready engineering artifacts.
• Experience with scripting and analysis automation (e.g., Python, APDL, MATLAB) and with managing compute resources for large simulation workloads
• Opto‑mechanical and electro‑optic hardware experience is highly desirable. Experience with modelling adhesive bonds a plus
• Proven ability to analyze and qualify designs subjected to thermal, shock, and vibration environments as defined in MIL‑STD‑810.
• Experience performing Structural‑Thermal‑Optical (STOP) analysis for optical systems is highly desirable. Experience with Sig Fit & Zemax a plus.
• Experience with CFD and flow analysis for convective cooling, purge flows design.
• Proficient with CAD a plus. Solid Work preferred.
• Proven ability to manage multiple projects effectively and independently, demonstrating strong organizational and time‑management skills.
• Exceptional communication and collaboration skills to convey findings effectively to technical and non‑technical audiences.

• Experience using FEA tools such as ANSYS Workbench.
• Deep expertise of structural, dynamic, and thermal…