Thermal Engineer, Satellites (Starlink)

The role

You will be responsible for the thermal design, test, and validation of Starlink satellite hardware and custom developed chips. You will make engineering decisions to improve the vehicle and increase the performance of the Starlink network.

What you will do

• Thermal design of satellite components from initial high-level analysis to validation with ground tests and orbital data
• Thermal design of semiconductor packages from high level concepts to detail thermal simulations and lab testing
• Devise, build and run tests to validate the performance of the hardware in extreme conditions
• Automate workflow to reduce engineering investment in the design cycle
• Pursue performance/robustness improvements
• Pursue operational simplicity and seek to reduce burden on other groups at SpaceX
• Produce quality documentation of your work
• Review peer work

Required qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in an engineering discipline
• 1y+ industry experience (internships/co-ops can apply)
• Must be available to work extended hours and weekends as needed for mission critical deadlines

Nice to have

• Experience with tools for chip thermal design like Flotherm or Icepak
• 1+ years of experience using scientific programming languages (including internships)
• Experience with Thermal Desktop and ANSYS Workbench
• Experience with 3D and reduced order thermal modeling
• Ability to identify sizing cases and quickly evaluate the impact of design decisions
• Working knowledge of scripting languages
• Excellent oral and written communication skills
• Ability to deliver against an aggressive schedule

Benefits

• Company stock or long-term cash awards
• Ability to purchase additional stock at a discount through an Employee Stock Purchase Plan
• Comprehensive medical, vision, and dental coverage
• 401(k) retirement plan
• Short and long-term disability insurance
• Life insurance
• Paid parental leave
• 3 weeks of paid vacation
• 10 or more paid holidays per year
• Paid sick time in compliance with state and federal law
• Company shuttles from select Seattle locations to the SpaceX Redmond office Monday to Friday

Before you apply

• To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, o

About the company

SpaceX is developing technologies to enable human life on Mars. They are building Starlink, the world's largest satellite constellation providing broadband internet.