Engineer II, Thermal Design and Analysis (R4934)

The role

You will own the design, analysis and integration of thermal management systems for the launch and recovery system and electronics of an autonomous aircraft. You will work with mechanical, electrical, avionics, flight controls, manufacturing and test teams.

What you will do

• Own thermal solutions for the autonomous aircraft launch and recovery system
• Develop and validate models for heat transfer and fluid flow using hand calculations and CFD tools such as FloEFD
• Prototype, test and iterate mechanism designs for functionality and reliability
• Provide technical leadership in trade studies, system architecture decisions and risk assessments
• Drive test planning, instrumentation and data analysis to correlate models with experimental results
• Identify risks, propose solutions and influence mechanical, electrical and PCBA design direction
• Support pre-production builds, prototype integration, and ground and flight testing
• Take part in design reviews and technical decision-making forums
• Improve design processes, configuration management and team workflows

Required qualifications

• B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering or a related discipline
• 2+ years of professional experience in thermal engineering
• Strong expertise in heat transfer (conduction, convection, radiation) and fluid mechanics
• Understanding of active and passive cooling and their integration at component and system level
• Understanding of TIMs, spreaders, heat sinks, vapor chambers, heat pipes and fans
• Proficiency with thermal analysis and CFD tools (e.g., ANSYS Icepak, FloEFD, STAR-CCM+)
• Experience with CAD tools such as NX, SolidWorks or similar
• Demonstrated first-principles reasoning on complex engineering problems
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to learn and adapt quickly in a fast-paced startup environment

Nice to have

• M.S. in a relevant engineering discipline
• Hands-on experience with thermal and fluid system testing, instrumentation and validation
• Knowledge of materials and manufacturing methods relevant to thermal management
• MIL-STD-810, structural or actuated mechanism testing experience
• Ability to thrive in startup, R&D or defense innovation environments

Benefits

• Bonus
• Benefits (for full-time regular employees)
• Equity (for full-time regular employees)
• Temporary benefits package, applicable after 60 days of employment (for temporary employees)

Before you apply

• Offers are contingent on a cleared background and possible reference check
• Desired: ability to obtain an S//SAR level security clearance
• Military fellows and part-time employees are not eligible for benefits

About the company

Shield AI is a venture-backed defense-tech company whose products include Hivemind autonomy software, V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, and Aechelon simulation technologies. It has offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific.