Thermal Engineer, Thermal Protection Systems (TPS)

The role

You will own the design, analysis, and validation of thermal protection for hypersonic and high-speed flight systems. This involves performing aerothermal heating analysis, material response modeling, and conducting thermal characterization tests.

What you will do

• Own TPS design, material selection, and thermal analysis for hypersonic and high-speed flight vehicles.
• Perform aerothermal heating analysis using engineering correlations, boundary-layer methods, and CFD.
• Conduct ablation and material response modeling to predict TPS recession and thermal response.
• Evaluate and select TPS materials based on aerothermal loads, mass constraints, and manufacturability.
• Partner with aerodynamics, structures, propulsion, and systems engineers to integrate TPS.
• Define and execute thermal and material characterization tests.
• Build and maintain thermal models from hand calculations to detailed FEA/CFD.
• Present TPS status, risks, tradeoffs, and recommendations in design reviews.
• Support failure reviews and root-cause investigations using test data and thermal analysis.

Required qualifications

• MS or PhD in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Applied Physics, or a related field with a focus on aerothermodynamics, heat transfer, thermal sciences, or materials science.
• 2+ years of experience in TPS design, aerothermal analysis, or high-temperature material response for aerospace or defense systems.
• Strong first-principles understanding of aerodynamic heating, ablation, high-temperature heat transfer, and material thermal response.
• Experience with material response modeling tools such as FIAT, CMA, TITAN, or equivalent ablation/thermal response codes.
• Experience supporting thermal design for hypersonic vehicles, reentry systems, missiles, rocket nozzles, or other systems operating in extreme aerothermal environments.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Top Secret security clearance.

Nice to have

• Experience with aerothermal CFD tools such as DPLR, US3D, Loci-CHEM, CFD++, ANSYS Fluent, or STAR-CCM+
• Experience with arcjet testing, thermal characterization testing, or flight-article thermal instrumentation.
• Experience with high-temperature materials including carbon phenolic, carbon-carbon, PICA, SLA-561V, silicone-based ablators, or ceramic matrix composites.
• Experience with radiation modeling tools such as NEQAIR, HARA, or equivalent nonequilibrium radiation solvers.
• Experience using MATLAB, Python, or similar tools for trajectory-based heating analysis, thermal margin assessment, or engineering trade studies.
• Familiarity with NASA TPS heritage tools and databases (TPSX, CEA, CBAero).
• Experience supporting PDR/CDR, qualification testing, or flight programs.
• Strong motivation to support Anduril's mission of defending the United States and allied partners.

Benefits

• Comprehensive, competitive benefits package available at little to no cost to employees.

Before you apply

• Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Top Secret security clearance.
• Consent to pre-employment risk, integrity, and due diligence screening.

About the company

Anduril Industries is a defense technology company with a mission to transform U.S. and allied military capabilities with advanced technology.