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

📍 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.