Thermal Engineer - Mission Electronics

About the Team

The Thermal Engineering team enables Anduril’s rapid hardware development cycle by ensuring advanced defense systems perform reliably in demanding real-world environments. The team works across high-power, tightly integrated products where thermal architecture, analysis, testing, and cross-functional design decisions directly affect product performance, reliability, and mission success.

About the Role

We are looking for Thermal Engineer to work in Costa Mesa, CA, focused on the thermal design of electronic assemblies. You will own the thermal architecture of these across products spanning air vehicles (fixed wing & rotorcraft), maritime and ground systems, and wearables/body-worn devices, and you will bring an in-depth understanding of heat transfer and fluid dynamics to bear on hardware that must survive real operational environments.

What You'll Do

• Own the thermal design and analysis of electronics—from board and component level up through enclosures and full assemblies—for products across air vehicles, maritime and ground systems, and wearables/body-worn devices.
• Use first principles as the basis for every decision and discern the right level of analysis to apply. Execute hand calculations, spreadsheets, and MATLAB/Python first-order models to inform the path forward before jumping into detailed design.
• Define thermal architecture and heat-rejection paths—conduction, natural and forced convection, cold plates, heat sinks, heat pipes, thermal interface materials, and coatings—to keep components within junction and touch-temperature limits across demanding environments.
• Establish hot, cold, and edge-case operating conditions for each platform based on industry standards and intended use, accounting for altitude and flight envelopes on air vehicles, salt fog and humidity in maritime environments, solar load and enclosed cabinets on ground systems, and human-contact and comfort limits on wearables.
• Work with electrical, mechanical, and systems engineers to characterize and document component power dissipation under different operating modes.
• Communicate the pros and cons of system and packaging architectures with respect to thermal considerations, and drive trade studies that balance thermal margin against size, weight, and power.
• Own the thermal FEA/CFD models and predict system performance. Define red/yellow design limits for test and operation.
• Define and execute prototype builds and tests to verify thermal designs (do CAD, select sensors and DAQ equipment, post-process data, summarize results, etc.).
• Present thermal status at formal reviews internally and with customers. Provide a clear understanding of timelines and technical status.
• Develop internal tools to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of analysis.
• Support failure reviews and root-cause analysis with test data and thermal analysis.

Required Qualifications

• MS or higher degree in mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, applied physics, or a related field with a focus on heat transfer and fluid dynamics (BS with additional experience considered)
• In-depth understanding of heat transfer and fluid dynamics fundamentals
• 2-4 years of experience in thermal design, analysis, or testing for electronics or integrated hardware products (graduate research with hands-on experimental work counts toward experience)
• Familiarity with electronics cooling concepts — component and board-level thermal management, TIMs, heat sinks, heat pipes, cold plates, and enclosure heat rejection
• Exposure to thermal testing — sensor selection, data acquisition, and data post-processing
• Experience with at least one thermal FEA/CFD tool — STAR-CCM+, ANSYS, Icepak, FloEFD, or COMSOL
• CAD experience with Siemens NX, SolidWorks, or equivalent
• Passion for defending the United States and her allies
• Be able to obtain and hold a U.S. Top Secret security clearance

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience developing code in Python or MATLAB for thermal analysis (lumped-capacitance models, transient analysis, data post-processing)
• Exposure to thermal design across more than one product class — air vehicles, maritime or ground systems, electronics enclosures, or wearable/body-worn devices
• Familiarity with defense/aerospace environmental standards (e.g., MIL-STD-810) or thermal derating of electronic components
• Exposure to active cooling approaches such as fans, TECs, liquid cooling, or two-phase systems
• Experience with thermal architecture trade studies balancing thermal margin against SWaP constraints

US Salary Range 132000 - 175000 USD