Staff Engineer, Aircraft Thermal Systems (RX) (R6002)
Dallas · USD 146,480-219,720 / year · Onsite · Posted Sep 22, 2026
At a glance
- Workplace
- Onsite
- Location
- Dallas
- Salary
- USD 146,480-219,720 / year
About the role
- The Senior Staff (L5) Environmental Control System (ECS) Engineer will take full technical ownership of the ECS architecture, analysis, design, and integration for a dedicated special access program.
- Serving as the sole ECS subject matter expert, the role involves working from first principles to execute trades, size systems, design hardware, manage suppliers, and deliver flight-ready hardware in a rapid-iteration environment.
Responsibilities
- Define and mature aircraft-level thermal environments and thermal management solutions.
- Perform first-principles heat transfer and fluid mechanics calculations and develop analytical, finite-difference, and CFD models.
- Design and evaluate active and passive cooling solutions, including heat-rejection paths, airflow, and ducting.
- Generate thermal requirements, assess technical risks, and develop design recommendations balancing performance with vehicle constraints.
- Develop thermal hardware layouts and CAD models and resolve interfaces with structures, avionics, and fluid systems.
- Define qualification and verification test plans, design test rigs, and support instrumentation and data acquisition.
- Author technical specifications and statements of work for thermal hardware and manage supplier technical execution.
- Define and execute qualification test plans per MIL-STD-810 and support MIL-HDBK-516 Airworthiness Certification.
- Communicate thermal findings through design reviews and technical reports.
- Guide cross-disciplinary teams in applying thermal and fluid fundamentals.
Requirements
- US Citizens Only & Must have an Active Secret or higher clearance.
- B.S. or M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
- Deep mastery of thermodynamics, heat transfer, and fluid dynamics applied to aircraft or defense systems.
- Demonstrated capability with first-principles hand calculations, finite-difference methods, and CFD or thermal-analysis tools.
- Demonstrated ability to design active and passive cooling solutions and manage thermal environments for aircraft installations.
- Experience in 3D CAD modeling, thermal hardware layout, routing, and drawing release with Siemens NX, CATIA, Creo, SolidWorks, or equivalent PLM workflows.
- Proven track record sourcing COTS/custom aerospace components, driving suppliers to schedule, and assembling test setups.
- Demonstrated ability to self-direct, prioritize technical tasks without oversight, and deliver functional hardware under tight timelines.
Preferred qualifications
- Experience with high-altitude aircraft thermal management, analysis, and design.
- Hands-on experience with thermal and fluid system testing, instrumentation, data acquisition, and validation.
- Knowledge of materials and manufacturing methods relevant to aerospace thermal management.
- Background in multi-disciplinary system integration spanning avionics, fluid systems, and systems engineering.
- Familiarity with aerospace environmental and airworthiness requirements and test standards, including MIL-STD-810, MIL-HDBK-310, RTCA DO-160, and SAE AIR or ARP standards.
Benefits
- Bonus
- Benefits
- Equity
Skills
- Thermodynamics
- Heat Transfer
- Fluid Dynamics
- CFD
- FloEFD
- STAR-CCM+
- Thermal Desktop
- Siemens NX
- CATIA
- Creo
- SolidWorks
- CAD
Show all 13 skills
- PLM
