Staff Engineer, Aircraft Thermal Systems (RX) (R6002)

Shield AI•Dallas, TX

17h•$146,480 - $219,720•Onsite

About The Position

As a Staff (L4) Aircraft Thermal Systems Engineer, you will take full technical ownership of thermal analysis, design, and vehicle integration for a Group 5 UAV fighter aircraft. You will work from first principles to characterize aircraft-level thermal environments, evaluate heat-transfer pathways, develop cooling solutions, correlate analytical and computational models, and deliver robust thermal systems and hardware in a rapid-iteration development environment. This position requires a balance of technical rigor, rapid decision-making, and hands-on engineering to efficiently transition concepts into operational capability. The ideal candidate is comfortable solving complex problems, taking ownership, working within an accelerated aircraft development environment, and is motivated by getting meaningful capability into the hands of operators quickly.

Requirements

US Citizens Only & Must have an Active Secret or higher clearance.
7 to 12 years of direct experience in aerospace thermal engineering, environmental control systems, or vehicle thermal and fluid system development.
B.S. or M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
Deep mastery of thermodynamics, heat transfer, and fluid dynamics applied to aircraft or defense systems.
Demonstrated capability with first-principles hand calculations, finite-difference methods, and CFD or thermal-analysis tools such as FloEFD, STAR-CCM+, Thermal Desktop, or equivalent.
Demonstrated ability to design active and passive cooling solutions and manage thermal environments for aircraft bays, engine bays, hot surfaces, or comparable aerospace installations.
Experience in 3D CAD modeling, thermal hardware layout, routing, and drawing release with Siemens NX, CATIA, Creo, SolidWorks, or equivalent PLM workflows.
Proven track record sourcing COTS/custom aerospace components, driving suppliers to schedule, and assembling benchtop or vehicle-level test setups.
Demonstrated ability to self-direct, prioritize technical tasks without oversight, and deliver functional hardware under tight timelines.

Nice To Haves

Experience with high-altitude aircraft thermal management, analysis, and design.
Hands-on experience with thermal and fluid system testing, instrumentation, data acquisition, and validation.
Knowledge of materials and manufacturing methods relevant to aerospace thermal management.
Background in multi-disciplinary system integration spanning avionics, fluid systems, and systems engineering.
Familiarity with aerospace environmental and airworthiness requirements and test standards, including MIL-STD-810, MIL-HDBK-310, RTCA DO-160, and SAE AIR or ARP standards.

Responsibilities

Define and mature aircraft-level thermal environments and thermal management solutions for vehicle bays, hot surfaces, and other thermal-critical installations.
Perform first-principles heat transfer and fluid mechanics calculations, then develop analytical, finite-difference, and CFD models to characterize conduction, convection, radiation, and coupled thermal-fluid behavior.
Design and evaluate active and passive cooling solutions, including heat-rejection paths, airflow, ducting, thermal interfaces, and hardware needed to manage vehicle thermal loads.
Generate thermal requirements, assess technical risks, and develop actionable design recommendations that balance thermal performance with vehicle power, mass, volume, maintainability, and integration constraints.
Develop thermal hardware layouts and CAD models, and resolve interfaces with structures, avionics, fluid systems, EWIS, and adjacent mechanical systems.
Define qualification and verification test plans, design test rigs, support instrumentation and data acquisition, and correlate analytical and computational models with test data.
Author technical specifications and statements of work for thermal hardware, evaluate suppliers, and drive supplier technical execution through prototype build and test.
Define and execute qualification test plans per MIL-STD-810, using results to mature the design into production-ready hardware and support MIL-HDBK-516 Airworthiness Certification.
Communicate thermal findings through design reviews and technical reports, guide cross-disciplinary teams in applying thermal and fluid fundamentals, and influence vehicle-level thermal design decisions.