Thermal Engineer, Environmental Control Systems
Costa Mesa · Costa Mesa, CA (OC-00) · USD 129,000-171,000 · Full-time · Posted Sep 30, 2026
At a glance
- Employment
- Full-time
- Location
- Costa Mesa · Costa Mesa, CA (OC-00)
- Salary
- USD 129,000-171,000 · Base salary
About the role
- We are looking for a Thermal Engineer in Costa Mesa, CA to own the thermal management and environmental control systems (ECS) of air vehicles and other advanced defense platforms.
- You will apply a deep understanding of heat transfer, fluid dynamics, and thermal systems to keep avionics, payloads, power, and propulsion subsystems within their limits across the full mission envelope.
Responsibilities
- Own the thermal design and analysis of vehicle thermal management and ECS—air-cycle, ram-air, bleed-air, and liquid cooling loops—from component and cold plate level up through the full vehicle.
- Use first principles to discern the right level of analysis, running hand calcs, spreadsheets, and MATLAB/Python first-order models before detailed design.
- Define thermal management architecture and heat-sink strategy—ram-air and air-cycle cooling, vapor-cycle systems, liquid coolant loops, fuel as a heat sink, and thermal energy storage—to keep equipment within limits as heat loads scale.
- Size and rate heat exchangers, cold plates, pumps, fans, and valves, and evaluate vendor hardware against system requirements.
- Develop steady-state and transient system models of coolant, fuel, hydraulic, and lubrication circuits in tools such as Simcenter Amesim, Simscape, or GT-SUITE to predict performance across ground, climb, cruise, and off-nominal conditions.
- Work with avionics, propulsion, power, structures, and systems engineers to characterize heat loads and define thermal requirements and interfaces across operating and failure modes.
- Weigh thermal architectures against performance, weight, power draw, reliability, and cost, driving trade studies that balance thermal margin with vehicle-level impact.
- Own the thermal system models, correlate them to test and flight data, and set red/yellow limits for test and operation.
- Lead prototype builds, ground testing, and validation of thermal management and ECS designs.
- Present thermal status and tradeoffs at internal and customer reviews with a clear view of timelines and technical status.
Requirements
- MS or PhD in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Applied Physics, or a related field with a focus on heat transfer, fluid dynamics, thermal sciences, or thermal systems
- Strong first-principles understanding of heat transfer and fluid dynamics, including conduction, convection, radiation, fluid flow, and transient thermal behavior
- Experience using thermal analysis, modeling, simulation, and/or physical test data to drive design decisions for passive or active thermal management systems
- Ability to communicate technical tradeoffs clearly across engineering, program, and customer stakeholders
- Ability to obtain and hold a U.S. Top Secret security clearance
Preferred qualifications
- Experience with thermal system modeling software such as Simcenter Amesim, Simscape, or GT-SUITE
- Experience using MATLAB, Python, spreadsheets, or similar tools for first-order thermal modeling, transient analysis, or engineering trade studies
- CAD experience with Siemens NX, SolidWorks, or comparable tools
- Experience with thermal management, environmental control systems (ECS), air-conditioning, bleed-air, or ram-air systems
- Experience with analysis and modeling of hydraulic, fuel, coolant, or lubrication circuits
- Experience with heat exchanger sizing and rating
Benefits
- Highly competitive equity grants included in the majority of full time offers
- Top-tier benefits for full-time employees supporting health, recovery, and whatever comes next
Skills
- MATLAB
- Python
- Simcenter Amesim
- Simscape
- GT-SUITE
- Siemens NX
- SolidWorks
