Senior Thermal Engineer

Divergent is a technology company that has architected, invented, built, and commercialized an end-to-end factory system called the Divergent Adaptive Production System (DAPS) that comprehensively uses machine learning to optimally engineer, additively manufacture, and flexibly assemble complex integrated vehicle structures and subsystems. Products created using DAPS are superior in performance, lower in cost, rapidly customizable to meet mission and customer-specific requirements, faster to market, and scalable on demand to high volume production. Divergent is a qualified Tier 1 supplier to global automotive OEMs, and Divergent is now expanding to support mission critical needs in the Aerospace and Defense sector. Join us to be a part of this transformative journey, where your impact will shape the future of technology and production.

As a Senior Thermal Engineer, you will serve as the technical authority for Divergent’s aero-structures portfolio, responsible for pushing the envelope of our technology with respect to thermal optimization and performance of Divergent’s structural components. You’ll be accountable for owning the full development life cycle from conceptual design through customer delivery, ensuring high-performance, reliable systems that meet the demands of complex, unforgiving environments. 

This role demands both technical depth and program maturity: the ability to engage government and industry partners to refine requirements for thermal performance for both new and legacy systems, while fostering internal alignment across internal engineering teams. You will be called on to derive thermal requirements in the absence of written specifications and are expected to challenge and shape requirements when appropriate — ensuring that the final product meets mission intent. 

Responsibilities: 

• Serve as the thermal design authority for Divergent’s A&D Structures team, owning thermal architecture from concept through qualification. 

• Define, negotiate, and validate thermal requirements and budgets with government and industry customers. 

• Develop thermal management strategies and lead internal trade studies—including heat rejection, insulation, and material selection. 

• Guide thermal aspects of design reviews, establish standardized thermal maturity metrics and qualification criteria across Divergent’s A&D customer portfolio. 

• Build and maintain high-fidelity thermal models (conduction, convection, radiation, steady state and transient analyses) and drive correlation with test data throughout the product lifecycle. Accountable for comprehensive thermal qualification and verification planning, including environmental testing, thermal cycling, and thermal analysis correlation. 

• Collaborate with senior technical experts to establish thermal analysis standards and model technical excellence inside and outside the organization, including with government customers and prime contractors. 

• Support vehicle builds and product development testing, including thermal instrumentation, data reduction, and troubleshooting. 

• Collaborates with senior technical experts to establish technical standards, and models technical excellence inside and outside the organization including government customers and prime contractors. 

Basic Qualifications: 

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or equivalent technical discipline with a thermal sciences focus. 

• Minimum 8 years of experience in thermal analysis, design, or management. 

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to synthesize complex thermal development engineering to simple terms and find alignment across multifunctional stakeholders including government customers and prime contractors. 

• Strong analytical and practical mindset—comfortable navigating ambiguity and driving structured clarity across thermal, structural, and systems boundaries. 

• Demonstrated excellence in thermal requirements definition, verification planning, and risk management across terrestrial & space thermal development and multidisciplinary teams. 

• Experience interfacing with engineering, testing, and manufacturing groups to understand system designs and the associated thermal constraints. 

• Demonstrated expertise in thermal analysis throughout the design, build, and test phases of a development cycle, including steady-state and transient modeling. 

• Proficiency with industry thermal analysis tools such as ANSYS (Fluent, Thermal Desktop, Icepak), Star CCM+, PowerFlow 

• Ability to lawfully access information and technology that is subject to US export controls  

• U.S. citizen eligible for DoD security clearance (Secret or higher preferred). 

Preferred Qualifications: 

• 8+ years of experience in a broad range of terrestrial and space system development applications and qualification. 

• Familiarity with relevant MIL-STDs (e.g., MIL-STD-810 thermal methods, MIL-STD-1540 environmental testing) and NASA STD’s (e.g., NASA-STD-7002 – Thermal Verification, KSC-STD-Z-0017). Proficiency in NASA-ST-6030 - Additive Manufacturing Requirements for Spaceflight Systems preferred 

• Demonstrated excellence in developing thermal solutions for aerospace and defense applications, including aerodynamic heating, electronics cooling, and propulsion thermal management. 

• Experience with additive manufacturing, advanced thermal interface materials, or novel cooling architectures. 

• Expert understanding of thermophysical properties and thermal behavior of various material systems (composites, adhesives, metals) across operational temperature ranges. 

• Experience with thermal vacuum testing, altitude simulation, and correlation of thermal models to test data. 

Work Environment 

• Requires frequent standing, walking, and interaction across production and R&D work areas. 

• May occasionally require extended or weekend hours to meet production deadlines. 

• • Work is performed in an office environment and requires the ability to operate standard office equipment and keyboards.   

Compensation

At Divergent, our pay range is based on the level of the job.  For this role, we will consider candidates at level E05 as evaluated through our interview process

• EO5 / Senior: $141,380 - $194,390

What We Offer:

• Holistic Compensation Package: Enjoy a world-class compensation package that includes a competitive salary, equity plan, and discretionary results-based incentive bonus opportunities, ensuring you're truly valued for your contributions.
• Wellness and Time Off: Embrace a healthy lifestyle with paid vacation, sick time, and company holidays, including a year-end shutdown to recharge. We support growing families with paid parental leave, recognizing the importance of bonding time.
• Comprehensive Health and Wellness: Prioritize your well-being with our comprehensive health and wellness benefits, offering both HMO and Premium PPO options. Additionally, benefit from company-sponsored life insurance and short and long-term disability coverage for peace of mind.
• Investment in Growth: We're committed to your professional development. Take advantage of reimbursement opportunities for learning and development initiatives, empowering you to continuously expand your skill set and reach peak performance.
• Collaborative and High-Performing Environment: Join our collaborative, dynamic, and high-performing team within a fast-paced, mission-driven company. Together, we're disrupting the traditional manufacturing industry, fostering innovation, and integrating people and technology to reduce our footprint. 

Equal Employment Opportunity
Divergent is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability or veteran status, or any other applicable state or federal protected characteristic. Divergent provides affirmative action in employment for qualified Individuals with Disabilities and Protected Veterans in compliance with Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act.
EEO Poster 

In order to adjust to changes in our business, it may become necessary to add, remove or modify certain duties and responsibilities, or to reassign you to another job position. From time to time you may be asked to work on special projects or to assist with other work. Your cooperation and assistance in performing such additional work is expected. 
 
E-Verify: Right to Work
Our company participates in E-Verify. E-Verify is a program that electronically confirms a candidate’s eligibility to work in the United States after completing the Employment Eligibility Verification (Form I-9). The information provided on the Form I-9 is compared to the records contained in the Social Security Administration and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) databases. This helps employers verify the identity and employment eligibility of newly hired employees.
Eligibility to Work Poster (English) | Eligibility to Work Poster (Spanish)
 
Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance (FCIHO)
Pursuant to the Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance (FCIHO), we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

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