Thermal Associate Engineer; Fall

About Astranis

Astranis builds advanced satellites for high orbits, expanding humanity’s reach into the solar system. Today, Astranis satellites provide dedicated, secure networks to highly sophisticated customers across the globe—large enterprises, sovereign governments, and the U.S. military. With five satellites on orbit and many more set to launch soon, the company is servicing a backlog of more than $1 billion in commercial contracts.

Astranis is the preferred satellite communications partner for buyers with stringent requirements for uptime, data security, network visibility, and customization. Astranis has raised over $750 million from some of the world’s best investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, Blackrock, and Fidelity, and employs a team of 450 engineers and entrepreneurs.

Associate Engineer positions typically last twelve weeks and are salaried roles designed for students who have already earned a bachelor’s degree (or who will before beginning work).

As an Associate Engineer you will work on hard problems—our Associate Engineers tackle projects of equal importance and difficulty as those given to full‑time employees. Previous Associate Engineers have designed and tested hardware and software destined for space on our first satellite, and many now work at Astranis full‑time.

• Collaborate with the engineering team to design, analyze, build, and test satellite hardware and/or software.
• Support design trades that balance performance margins, resource use, risk, cost, and schedule.
• Perform thermal analysis at varying degrees of fidelity (simplified to detailed) on various hardware, such as propulsion components, batteries, high‑powered electronics, RF components, mechanisms, and printed circuit boards (PCBs).
• Design, evaluate, procure, and test thermal solutions such as heaters, heat pipes, thermal interface materials, and surface coatings.
• Develop processes and procedures for integration and assembly to ensure thermal design intent is met. Collaborate with the integration and test team during installation of thermal hardware as needed.
• Plan and conduct thermal‑vacuum testing and verification at the component and spacecraft level.

• Four‑year degree in mechanical, aerospace, or an equivalent technical field (e.g., physics or applied math).
• Passion and enthusiasm for hardware development, including hands‑on design and working in a fast‑paced environment.
• Demonstrated ability to personally design, build, and test hardware from scratch.
• Don’t meet them all? Please apply even if you do not meet all criteria.

• Experience with CAD.
• Experience with analytical software for thermal analysis such as ANSYS or Thermal Desktop.
• Experience with electronics system design and packaging.
• Experience (projects or previous internships) related to aerospace.

Base salary: $1,925 per week.

U.S. Citizenship, Lawful Permanent Residency, or Refugee/Asylee Status Required (To comply with U.S. Government space technology export regulations, applicant must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the United States, or other protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3)).

Our mission and products connect the world and everyone in it, regardless of gender, race, creed, or any other distinction. We believe in a diverse and inclusive workplace and encourage all people to bring their unique perspective to help make us stronger.

We do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law (Equal Employment Opportunity).