Staff Thermal Engineer, Hypersonic Air Vehicles
Anduril · Costa Mesa, United States · 2mo ago
Anduril Industries is a defense technology company with a mission to transform U.S. and allied military capabilities with advanced technology. By bringing the expertise, technology, and business model of the 21st century’s most innovative companies to the defense industry, Anduril is changing how military systems are designed, built and sold. Anduril’s family of systems is powered by Lattice OS, an AI-powered operating system that turns thousands of data streams into a realtime, 3D command and control center. As the world enters an era of strategic competition, Anduril is committed to bringing cutting-edge autonomy, AI, computer vision, sensor fusion, and networking technology to the military in months, not years.
ABOUT THE TEAM
The Thermal Engineering team's work is essential to support our rapid innovation cycle and maintain the performance and reliability of advanced defense technologies. Thermal Engineers own the full development life cycle from conceptual design through ground testing and flight test analysis, ensuring high-performance, resilient systems that meet the demands of complex, contested environments.
WHAT YOU'LL DO
- Thermal design and analysis of unmanned air vehicles at conceptual, preliminary, and detailed design maturities
- Define thermal system architectures and material selection strategies for vehicles operating in demanding flight environments
- Thermal analysis of flight vehicles using CFD, FEA, and engineering methods
- Material response modeling under combined thermal and mechanical loads
- Transient thermal analysis for time-varying mission profiles
- Ground test planning, execution, and analysis in specialized thermal test facilities
- Flight test planning, execution, and post-flight thermal data analysis
- Use first principles and MATLAB/Python models to inform design decisions
- Collaborate with aerodynamics, structures, electrical, and systems engineers on integrated solutions
- Present thermal status at formal reviews internally and with customers
- Prepare formal documentation (specifications, test procedures, technical reports)
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
- MS or higher degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or Applied Physics with focus on heat transfer and fluid dynamics
- In-depth understanding of heat transfer, fluid dynamics, and high-temperature environments
- 15+ years of experience in aerospace thermal engineering on rocket, aircraft, or missile programs
- Experience with thermal analysis in high-speed flight regimes
- Thermal analysis experience using CFD (STAR-CCM+, ANSYS Fluent) and/or FEA thermal solvers
- Experience with thermal-structural coupling
- Ground testing experience with thermal instrumentation and data acquisition
- Strong programming skills in MATLAB, Python, or similar for tool development
- Experience preparing formal documentation
- CAD experience with SolidWorks or Siemens NX
- Passion for defending the United States and her allies
- Ability to obtain and hold a U.S. Top Secret security clearance
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Experience with material response modeling in extreme thermal environments
- Knowledge of material degradation and surface phenomena under demanding conditions
- Experience with specialized thermal ground test facilities
- Experience with chemical kinetics and finite-rate chemistry modeling
- Flight test experience including instrumentation design and post-flight analysis
- Experience with thermal-structural analysis codes (NASTRAN, Abaqus, ANSYS Mechanical)
- Material characterization experience at elevated temperatures
- Experience with manufacturing and assembly of thermal systems
- Active U.S. security clearance
The salary range for this role is an estimate based on a wide range of compensation factors, inclusive of base salary only. Actual salary offer may vary based on (but not limited to) work experience, education and/or training, critical skills, and/or business considerations. Highly competitive equity grants are included in the majority of full time offers; and are considered part of Anduril's total compensation package. Additionally, Anduril offers top-tier benefits for full-time employees, including:
Benefits
At Anduril, we invest in our people. Our comprehensive, competitive benefits package (available at little to no cost to employees) ensures you’re supported in health, recovery, and whatever comes next. For more information, Explore Our Benefits.
Protecting Yourself from Recruitment Scams
Anduril is committed to maintaining the integrity of our Talent acquisition process and the security of our candidates. We've observed a rise in sophisticated phishing and fraudulent schemes where individuals impersonate Anduril representatives, luring job seekers with false interviews or job offers. These scammers often attempt to extract payment or sensitive personal information.
To ensure your safety and help you navigate your job search with confidence, please keep the following critical points in mind:
-
No Financial Requests: Anduril will never solicit payment or demand personal financial details (such as banking information, credit card numbers, or social security numbers) at any stage of our hiring process. Our legitimate recruitment is entirely free for candidates.
- Please always verify communications:
- Direct from Anduril: If you receive an email from one of our recruiters, it will only come from an
@anduril.comaddress. - Via Agency Partner: If contacted by a recruiting agency for an Anduril role, their email will clearly identify their agency. If you suspect any suspicious activity, please verify the agency's authenticity by reaching out to contact@anduril.com.
- Direct from Anduril: If you receive an email from one of our recruiters, it will only come from an
-
Exercise Caution with Unsolicited Outreach: If you receive any communication that appears suspicious, contains grammatical errors, or makes unusual requests, do not engage. Always confirm the sender's email domain is @anduril.com before providing any personal information or clicking on links.
-
What to Do If You Suspect Fraud: Should you encounter any questionable or fraudulent outreach claiming to be from Anduril, please report it immediately to contact@anduril.com. Your proactive caution is invaluable in protecting your personal information and upholding the security and trustworthiness of our recruitment efforts.
Data Privacy
To view Anduril's candidate data privacy policy, please visit https://anduril.com/applicant-privacy-notice/.
By submitting your application, you consent to Anduril Industries using a third-party service provider to conduct pre-employment risk, integrity, and due diligence screening and assessing potential risks as part of your application process. This third-party service provider provides risk-intelligence services that may include analysis of sanctions and watchlists, adverse media, public-record information, and other lawful open-source or commercial data sources. This third-party service provider does not act as a consumer reporting agency. Use of this provider helps to ensure compliance with applicable laws and protect technology, intellectual property, and organizational security.