Senior Thermal Engineer | On-site Opportunity | Torrance, CA | Fastwater Staffing

About the job

📍 Location: Torrance, CA

📄 Employment Type: Full-Time

🏢 Work Arrangement: 100% On-site, Monday–Friday

🚀 Start Date: TBD

💰 Compensation: TBD — based on skills and experience

Important Screening Requirements

• BS or higher in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Applied Physics, or a related field .

• 5+ years of aerospace thermal engineering experience .

• Experience supporting rocket, spacecraft, aircraft, missile, or other high-performance aerospace programs .

• Strong understanding of heat transfer, fluid dynamics, and high-temperature environments .

• Experience with electronic unit thermal analysis and control to component-junction temperatures.

• Ground testing experience involving thermal instrumentation and data acquisition .

• Strong MATLAB, Python, or similar programming skills.

• Experience with SolidWorks or Siemens NX .

• Experience preparing formal technical documentation.

• Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance .

• Must be able to work on-site in Torrance, CA .

About the Role

We are seeking a Senior Thermal Engineer to lead thermal engineering methodology across advanced missile systems.

This role covers thermal architecture, high-fidelity modeling, first-principles analysis, simulation, hardware testing, ground testing, and flight-test data analysis . You will work across aerodynamics, structures, electrical, propulsion, systems, manufacturing, and test engineering teams.

What We’re Looking For

We’re looking for a hands-on thermal engineer who can move between analytical modeling, hardware testing, and flight data while working across multiple engineering disciplines to solve challenging thermal problems.

Key Responsibilities

• Perform thermal design and analysis of unmanned air vehicles from conceptual through detailed design.

• Define thermal system architectures and material-selection strategies.

• Perform thermal analysis using standard thermal-analysis codes and engineering/hand methods.

• Conduct transient thermal analysis for time-varying mission profiles.

• Plan, execute, and analyze specialized thermal ground testing.

• Plan and support flight testing and post-flight thermal data analysis.

• Develop MATLAB/Python models using first-principles methods to support engineering decisions.

• Collaborate with aerodynamics, structures, electrical, and systems engineers.

• Present thermal status during formal internal and customer reviews.

• Prepare specifications, test procedures, technical reports, and other formal engineering documentation.

Required Qualifications

• BS or higher in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Applied Physics, or a related field.

• In-depth understanding of heat transfer, fluid dynamics, and high-temperature environments .

• 5+ years of aerospace thermal engineering experience on rocket, spacecraft, aircraft, or missile programs.

• Experience with electronic unit thermal analysis and component-junction temperature control .

• Ground testing experience with thermal instrumentation and data acquisition.

• Strong programming skills in MATLAB, Python, or similar tools.

• Formal technical documentation experience.

• SolidWorks or Siemens NX experience.

• Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance.

Preferred Qualifications

• MS or higher degree with a focus on heat transfer and fluid dynamics.

• Material ablation-response modeling experience.

• Knowledge of material degradation and surface phenomena in demanding thermal environments.

• Experience with specialized thermal ground-test facilities.

• Flight-test experience, including instrumentation design and post-flight analysis.

• Experience with Thermal Desktop/SINDA .

• Experience with manufacturing and assembly of thermal systems.

• Active U.S. security clearance.