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Senior Thermal Engineer (Avionics)

Playa Vista, California, United States

Turning Space into a Transportation Layer for Earth

Who We Are:

Eras of humanity can often be defined by a dominate transportation mode - horse drawn chariots, ocean going boats, or aircraft. These were spurred by a small group of people rigorously focused on building technology to achieve faster access to more of the world. We seek to usher in a new era of humanity defined by universal access to the whole globe free of borders and the presence of a routine way from space to Earth. To do this, we are building highly maneuverable re-entry vehicles that can loiter in orbit before precision landing back on Earth.  

What You’ll Do:

As a Senior Thermal Engineer at Inversion, you will be the full scope owner of spacecraft thermal analysis on Inversion’s Arc vehicle. This role will be the first thermal analysis engineering role for the avionics team and is a unique opportunity to work on the early stages of vehicle design, including defining vehicle architecture and creatively solving new design challenges. You will be a key member of the Avionics Team, reporting directly to the Director of Engineering, Avionics. In this role, you will:

  • Build and maintaining thermal analysis models for avionics components and systems including primary compute platforms, data acquisition systems, and power systems to name a few.

  • Interface closely with all other areas of the engineering team, including propulsion, avionics, mechanisms, GNC, payloads, and mission design teams to support thermal analysis and environment definition

  • Hold the role of subject matter expert for the avionics team to drive solutions for mechanical packaging and board design efforts

  • Be the responsible engineering owner and subject matter expert for all spacecraft thermal analysis and heat transfer needs

  • Collaborate with Avionics mechanical and electrical designers to ensure designs meet specifications

Required Qualifications:

  • Minimum of bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, or related field OR equivalent experience 

  • Typically 3-5 years applicable experience (open to experience in fields other than aerospace)

  • Strong thermal analysis and heat transfer knowledge related to space and hypersonic environments, reentry vehicles, launch vehicles, or satellite systems

  • Familiarity with thermal FEM analysis software such as Ansys Thermal Desktop or equivalent

  • Prior experience analyzing aerothermal elasticity effects on large metallic or composite space, aerospace, or similar structures

  • Proven ability to work effectively in a fast-paced environment, including prototyping and rapid iteration of new products

  • Excellent communication skills and the ability to work in a multi-disciplinary team of mechanical, electrical, propulsion, and software engineers, designing and building space-flight hardware

  • Comfortable with all aspects of a program; taking a design from concept through launch

Desired Qualifications:

  • Master’s degree in mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, or related field

  • Familiarity with thermal and thermal vacuum testing and requirements development for space or hypersonic vehicle programs

  • Prior experience in design and test of qualified space-flight hardware, high heat flux environments such as reentry vehicles and hypersonic atmospheric vehicles

  • Prior startup experience

The California annual base salary for this role is currently $137,000-$193,000. Pay Grades are determined by role, level, location, and alignment with market data.  Individual pay will be determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on the following considerations: interviews and an assessment of several factors that are unique to each candidate, job-related skills, relevant education and experience, certifications, abilities of the candidate and internal equity. 

ITAR Compliance:
To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here.  
 
Equal Employment Opportunity:
Inversion provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, veteran status, or disability.  
 
Inversion collects and processes personal data in accordance with applicable data protection laws.  If you are a US Job Applicant see the CCPA Privacy Policy Notice for further details.

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