Thermal Test Engineer
$115k - $195k+ Performance-based bonus + Equity/stock options
Mid, Senior
Bachelor's, Master's
Huntington Beach, CA, USA
In PersonTravel to external test facilities or customer sites as required.
Aerospace Engineering
No H1B Sponsorship
US Top Secret Clearance Required
About the job
Requirements
- A bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Engineering Physics, or a related engineering discipline is required.
- At least 2 years of experience in thermal testing, environmental testing, test engineering, or a related aerospace or defense engineering discipline is required.
- Hands-on experience developing and executing engineering test procedures is required.
- Experience with thermal chambers and/or thermal vacuum chambers is required.
- Experience with thermal cycling, thermal soak, temperature testing, or other environmental qualification testing is required.
- Experience with test instrumentation such as thermocouples, resistance temperature detectors, pressure transducers, temperature sensors, and data acquisition systems is required.
- Ability to interpret engineering drawings, specifications, requirements, schematics, and test documentation is required.
- Experience collecting, processing, analyzing, and presenting engineering test data is required.
- Strong troubleshooting and root-cause analysis skills are required.
- Experience writing technical documentation, including test procedures and test reports, is required.
- Ability to work safely around high-temperature, low-temperature, vacuum, electrical, and other potentially hazardous test environments is required.
- Must be able to obtain and maintain required security clearance, if applicable to the position.
- Must meet applicable U.S. export-control requirements, if applicable to the position.
- Availability to work extended hours and weekends as needed is required.
- Applicants must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. lawful permanent resident, refugee, or asylee, or eligible to obtain required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.
- Applicants must be authorized to work in the United States, as the employer participates in E-Verify and verifies work authorization.
Responsibilities
- Develop and execute thermal and environmental test plans for aerospace and defense hardware, including components, subsystems, and system-level assemblies.
- Develop detailed test procedures, test requirements, instrumentation plans, test configurations, and test readiness documentation.
- Plan and execute thermal cycling, thermal vacuum, thermal soak, temperature/humidity, high/low temperature, and other environmental tests as applicable to program requirements.
- Support qualification, acceptance, development, and verification testing throughout the product lifecycle.
- Configure and operate environmental test chambers, thermal vacuum chambers, thermal cycling equipment, and associated test systems.
- Select, install, calibrate, and verify test instrumentation including thermocouples, resistance temperature detectors, pressure sensors, heat flux sensors, and other data acquisition instrumentation.
- Monitor test execution and ensure test conditions remain within approved limits and procedures.
- Collect, process, reduce, and analyze thermal test data to evaluate product performance against requirements.
- Identify and troubleshoot test anomalies, instrumentation issues, chamber/equipment problems, and hardware performance issues.
- Support root-cause investigations for thermal test failures and unexpected test results.
- Support thermal model validation and correlation using test data.
- Generate comprehensive test reports documenting test configuration, procedures, results, anomalies, conclusions, and recommendations.
- Participate in engineering reviews including test readiness reviews, preliminary/design reviews, test result reviews, and failure review boards.
- Support development and continuous improvement of thermal test methods, processes, fixtures, instrumentation, and laboratory capabilities.
- Develop and maintain test equipment, procedures, work instructions, and standard operating procedures.
- Coordinate with internal teams, suppliers, external test facilities, and customers as required.
- Ensure testing is performed in accordance with applicable aerospace, military, customer, quality, safety, and environmental requirements.
- Support test equipment calibration, maintenance, troubleshooting, and laboratory safety activities.
- Maintain accurate test records, configuration documentation, test logs, and engineering data.
- Support multiple concurrent test programs and communicate test status, risks, and issues to program stakeholders.
- Travel to external test facilities or customer sites as required.
Desired Qualifications
- A master's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Thermal Sciences, or a related technical discipline is preferred.
- Five or more years of experience in aerospace, defense, space, aviation, or other high-reliability product testing is preferred.
- Direct experience with thermal vacuum testing and spacecraft or aerospace hardware qualification is preferred.
- Experience with combined environmental testing, including thermal/vibration, thermal/shock, or thermal/acoustic testing, is preferred.
- Experience with aerospace and military environmental test standards such as MIL-STD-810, RTCA DO-160, NASA/GSFC standards, SMC-S-016, or applicable customer-specific requirements is preferred.
- Experience with qualification, acceptance, and development testing of flight hardware is preferred.
- Experience with LabVIEW, NI DAQ/PXI, MATLAB, Python, or similar test/data-analysis tools is preferred.
- Experience developing automated test and data acquisition systems is preferred.
- Experience with thermal analysis and modeling tools such as ANSYS, Thermal Desktop, SINDA/FLUINT, COMSOL, or equivalent is preferred.
- Experience correlating thermal test data with analytical or computational thermal models is preferred.
- Familiarity with spacecraft thermal control hardware, avionics, electronics, propulsion systems, structures, or other aerospace subsystems is preferred.
- Experience designing or developing thermal test fixtures and test setups is preferred.
- Experience with instrumentation calibration, measurement uncertainty, and test-data quality assessment is preferred.
- Experience performing formal root-cause analysis using methods such as 5-Why, Fishbone/Ishikawa, or 8D is preferred.
- Experience supporting external test laboratories and customer/government test activities is preferred.
- An active U.S. Secret, Top Secret, or higher security clearance is preferred where applicable.
- Experience working within configuration-controlled engineering and product development environments is preferred.
About the company
Mach Industries designs and builds unmanned military systems, including VTOL drones, long-range strike weapons, and counter-UAS, along with propulsion and energetics. Its products integrate flight hardware, powerplants, and munitions into compact, mission-ready systems with a focus on in-house manufacturing to lower costs. It differentiates itself through vertical integration, owning propulsion and energetic components, and expanding via the Exquadrum acquisition to ease munitions bottlenecks while maintaining a large California manufacturing footprint. Its goal is to scale manufacturing capacity and accelerate programs to meet defense contracts, supported by large funding rounds to grow production and operations.
Company Size
201-500
Company Stage
Series C
Total Funding
$1.1B
Headquarters
Huntington Beach, California
Founded
2022
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Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- September 2026 investors added $600 million, backing Mach's scale-up after June's $300 million round.
- June 2026 production and DIU wins validated demand from the Navy, Army, and allies.
- Mach's Viper demo to Lithuania and Estonia broadened NATO interest beyond U.S. procurement.
What critics are saying
- Brian Harley sued Mach in California Central Court in February 2026; hearings resumed September.
- Mach's September 2026 $3.7 billion valuation dwarfs its still-early production and contracts.
- A manufacturing or certification failure would stall Atlas, Viper, and Energetics revenue.
What makes Mach Industries unique
- Ethan Thornton vertically integrates airframes, propulsion, and energetics under one 2023 company.
- June 2026 DIU awarded Mach the Navy's runway-independent strike aircraft integrator role.
- May 2026 Exquadrum acquisition gives Mach in-house solid-rocket-motor supply and sales.
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Benefits
- Health Insurance
- 401(k) Retirement Plan
- 401(k) Company Match
- Paid Vacation
- Paid Holidays
- Relocation Assistance
- Professional Development Budget
- Meal Benefits