Thermal Engineer

Karman+•Broomfield, CO

9h•$100,000 - $150,000

About The Position

Karman+ is building spacecraft and systems to develop an in-space logistics chain using resources such as those found on asteroids. Its first mission is planned to launch in 2028 and rendezvous with asteroid Apophis. The spacecraft is designed, built, and tested by the team in Broomfield, Colorado. The Thermal Engineer will own spacecraft thermal engineering from component through system level. This includes thermal models, mission environments, and thermal-control design across the mission, as well as hands-on component thermal design and thermal-vacuum testing in the company's facility. The role also supports integration, launch-site operations, and in-flight thermal monitoring.

Requirements

Spacecraft thermal engineering experience, including at least one program taken through thermal-vacuum testing; flight experience is preferred.
Fluency with a spacecraft thermal analysis tool such as Thermal Desktop/SINDA, ESATAN, or an equivalent, and the ability to assess model accuracy.
Hands-on test experience instrumenting hardware, operating a thermal-vacuum chamber, and correlating models to test data.
Working knowledge of thermal hardware and materials, including heaters, MLI, coatings, straps, and TIMs, and their behavior over a multi-year deep-space mission.
Ability to own requirements, analysis, hardware, testing, and documentation.
Comfort making decisions in a small-team environment.
US work authorization.

Nice To Haves

Deep-space or GEO mission experience.
Electronics thermal design experience.
Cryogenic or high-power electric-propulsion thermal experience.
Experience with small-body proximity environments.
Familiarity with F Prime-style telemetry for in-flight thermal monitoring.

Responsibilities

Own spacecraft thermal modeling and analysis across mission environments, including hot and cold cases, eclipse transients, and the asteroid-proximity phase.
Design the thermal control system, including radiators, coatings, MLI, heaters, thermal straps, and interfaces; coordinate with the power team to close heater-power and radiator budgets.
Address thermal challenges for high-power electric-propulsion equipment, GaN RF amplifiers, batteries, xenon tanks, and flexible solar arrays.
Perform component-level thermal design for in-house electronics boxes with avionics and power teams, including board-to-chassis conduction paths, TIM selection, and junction-temperature predictions for radiation derating.
Plan and conduct component-, box-, and spacecraft-level thermal-vacuum tests, including test design, instrumentation, test profiles, model correlation, and reporting.
Specify and procure thermal hardware and coatings, and own cleanliness and outgassing compliance for flight hardware.
Support integration, launch-site operations, and in-flight thermal monitoring.