Senior Engineer, Avionics Thermal Engineering (R5298)

The role

You will own thermal management design, analysis and test for unmanned aerial vehicle avionics. You will lead trade studies, models and cross-team work on heat transfer and fluid flow.

What you will do

• Own thermal solutions for unmanned aerial vehicle avionics, including design, analysis and test.
• Develop and validate analytical, numerical and computational models for heat transfer and fluid flow using hand calculations and CFD tools such as FloEFD.
• 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.
• Guide cross-disciplinary teams in applying thermal and fluid fundamentals.
• Communicate technical findings through design reviews and written reports.
• Identify risks, propose solutions and influence electrical and/or PCBA design direction.

Required qualifications

• B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering or a related discipline.
• Minimum 4 years of professional experience in avionics or electronics thermal engineering.
• Strong expertise in heat transfer (conduction, convection, radiation) and fluid mechanics.
• Strong understanding of active and passive cooling solutions and their integration at component and system level.
• Understanding of thermal management elements including 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 experience applying first-principles reasoning to complex engineering problems.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Proven ability to learn and adapt quickly to new tools, processes and technical challenges in a fast-paced startup environment.

Nice to have

• M.S. in a relevant engineering discipline.
• Experience with high altitude aircraft avionics cooling and thermal design.
• Familiarity with aircraft integration constraints (power, weight, volume, maintainability, safety).
• Hands-on experience with thermal and fluid system testing, instrumentation and validation.
• Knowledge of materials and manufacturing methods relevant to thermal management.

Benefits

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

Before you apply

• All offers are contingent on a cleared background and possible reference check.
• Pay within the listed range is influenced by skill set, experience level, licenses and certifications, and work location.
• Military fellows and part-time employees are not eligible for benefits.

About the company

Shield AI is a venture-backed defense-tech company that builds intelligent systems to protect service members and civilians. Its products include Hivemind autonomy software, V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, and Aechelon simulation technologies.