SpaceX
Thermal Engineer, AI Satellites (Starmind)
About this role
SpaceX seeks a Thermal Engineer to design and optimize cooling systems for Starmind satellites, which use space-based solar power for AI compute. You'll manage conjugate heat transfer analysis, thermal-fluid network modeling, and cooling loop architecture for hardware dissipating hundreds of kilowatts, bridging CFD predictions with flight-proven hardware.
What you'll do
- Conduct conjugate heat-transfer and thermal-fluid analysis of cold plates, heat exchangers, and radiator channels using CFD
- Develop and own 0-D/1-D thermal-fluid network models that size cooling loops and balance pressure drops, temperature rises, and pump operating points
- Lead cooling-loop architecture trades with mechanical and vehicle-level thermal teams
- Co-develop component geometry, materials, and manufacturing processes to achieve efficient, producible thermal solutions
- Design pre-test predictions, testing protocols, and model-test correlations for fluid components and integrated systems
- Automate analysis workflows to enable rapid design iteration as requirements and boundary conditions evolve
What they're looking for
- Conjugate heat-transfer CFD (STAR-CCM+, ANSYS Fluent/CFX, or equivalent)
- Thermal-fluid network modeling for cooling loop sizing and balancing
- Hand-calc validation and engineering judgment on mesh, turbulence models, and model fidelity
- Hands-on hardware testing, instrumentation, and model correlation
- CFD geometry generation (Siemens NX or equivalent)
- Python scripting for workflow automation and post-processing
- Board/package-level thermal tools (Icepak, Flotherm)
- Manufacturing process constraints and feasibility assessment
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SpaceX
SpaceX develops advanced spacecraft and satellite systems, including the Starshield government satellite constellation and Starfall re-entry cargo capsule for global delivery. The company is hiring engineers in avionics integration, software test automation, mechanical design, and hardware reliability to validate flight-critical systems and ensure mission success.
- Website
- spacex.com
Likely interview questions
- Walk us through a conjugate heat-transfer CFD analysis you've performed on a liquid-cooled component—how did you validate your turbulence model choice and mesh independence?
- Describe your experience building and tuning 0-D/1-D thermal-fluid network models. How have you used them to drive design trades in cooling loop architecture?