Job ID: 9758
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.
Key Responsibilities
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
Required Qualifications
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
Preferred Qualifications
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…