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Senior Structural & Thermal Engineer Verified today

AIRMO · Berlin, Germany · Mechanical · first seen 2026-10-07
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Your Role

You will take full ownership of structural analysis and thermal subsystem design for our satellite instruments. From the first FEM mesh to the last thermal-vacuum cycle, you'll turn CAD into analysis models, determine whether designs survive launch and orbit, and shape the hardware when they don't.

Structural Responsibilities

  • Define requirements and load levels for payload units
  • Build structural FEM models of satellite systems and subsystems directly from CAD
  • Run static, modal, random vibration, sine and shock analyses at qualification and acceptance levels
  • Feed results back to mechanical engineers and drive design changes where margins aren't there
  • Own, plan and run environmental test campaigns (vibration, shock, thermal cycling, thermal vacuum): test plans, fixtures, facility coordination, execution and test-to-model correlation

Thermal Responsibilities

  • Build and run satellite thermal models based on CAD, thermal interfaces and power consumption profiles
  • Evaluate power and heat balance across hot and cold cases and mission phases
  • Feed results back to mechanical and electrical engineers and drive design changes where margins aren't there
  • Define the thermal control strategy, including MLI design, manufacturing and integration
  • Decide where temperature sensors and heaters go, and size the heater circuits
  • Document analyses and test results to support design reviews and launch provider requirements

Required Qualifications

  • Bachelor's or Master's in aerospace or mechanical engineering, or a related field
  • 4 or more years of experience in structural and/or thermal analysis for space hardware
  • Hands-on FEM experience (e.g. NX, Ansys, Femap/Nastran, Abaqus) including modal, random vibration and shock analysis
  • Thermal modelling experience with tools such as ESATAN-TMS, Thermal Desktop or Systema
  • Experience planning and running environmental qualification or acceptance tests
  • Working knowledge of ECSS standards and launcher environment requirements
  • Comfortable working from CAD (e.g. SolidWorks, Siemens NX) and owning decisions end-to-end
  • Fluent English

Nice to Have

  • Flight heritage: you've seen your hardware through launch
  • Experience with small satellites or airborne payloads
  • Test-to-model correlation of both structural and thermal models
  • Scripting (Python) to automate analysis and post-processing
  • Optical or detector thermal stability requirements (e.g. LiDAR, hyperspectral instruments)