Anduril Industries
Thermal Engineer, Thermal Protection Systems (TPS)
About this role
Anduril is seeking a Thermal Engineer specializing in Thermal Protection Systems to design and validate thermal shielding for hypersonic and high-speed flight vehicles. You'll conduct aerothermal analysis, ablation modeling, and material selection while collaborating across engineering disciplines to ensure thermal survival in extreme environments.
What you'll do
- Design and analyze thermal protection systems for hypersonic vehicles, missiles, and reentry platforms using aerothermal heating analysis and CFD
- Perform ablation and material response modeling to predict TPS recession, thermal margins, and structural performance
- Evaluate and select TPS materials such as carbon phenolic, PICA, and ceramics based on thermal loads and design constraints
- Define and execute thermal characterization tests including arcjet, furnace, and instrumented flight-article testing
- Build and maintain thermal models from hand calculations through FEA/CFD to predict performance and establish design limits
- Collaborate with aerodynamics, structures, and propulsion teams to integrate TPS while managing mass and performance tradeoffs
What they're looking for
- Aerothermal heating analysis and boundary-layer methods
- Ablation material response modeling (FIAT, CMA, TITAN, or equivalent)
- CFD for hypersonic flow (DPLR, US3D, Fluent, STAR-CCM+)
- High-temperature material characterization and selection
- Thermal FEA and transient heat transfer analysis
- MATLAB or Python for thermal analysis and trade studies
- Arcjet and thermal testing experience
- First-principles heat transfer and aerodynamic heating fundamentals
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Anduril Industries
Anduril Industries builds autonomous defense systems including underwater vehicles, unmanned aircraft, and electronic warfare platforms for the Department of Defense. The company is hiring across mechanical engineering, mission operations, software development, technical leadership, and advanced manufacturing roles to support the design, deployment, and production of these mission-critical systems.
- Website
- anduril.com
Likely interview questions
- Walk us through your most complex ablation analysis—what material response code did you use, and how did you validate your predictions against test data?
- Describe your experience with aerothermal CFD for hypersonic flows. Which tools have you used, and how did you determine heating environments for your TPS designs?