Senior Thermal Engineer - TeraWave Verified today
The role
Blue Origin is building TeraWave, a multi-orbit satellite communications network with optically interconnected LEO and MEO satellites delivering up to 6 Tbps symmetrical data speeds globally. You will own the thermal design of phased array antennas for both satellite payloads and ground user terminals.
Phased arrays are thermally extreme: high power density across hundreds of packages in vacuum, with only conduction and radiation available. They operate in bursts, not steady-state. Past a threshold junction temperature, RF front ends lose efficiency and dissipate more power, creating a runaway failure mode. Thermal is a first-order product constraint, not a downstream check. Radiator area competes with bus size; peak temperature competes with capacity; interface conductance competes with mass, manufacturability, and unit cost. You sit in the middle of those trades early, when answers aren't fixed.
What you'll do
- Own thermal architecture for satellite phased array payloads (RF front ends, beamforming ICs, power electronics) and ground terminal arrays
- Build and run transient thermal models of dense multi-chip board stacks, from die junction to structure and radiators
- Drive interface design: mounting and preload, interface materials and bondlines, heat pipes, spreaders, thermal storage
- Define duty-cycle and operational limits the constellation flies to, working with operations and planning teams
- Run architecture-level trades and quantify what each buys in degrees, kilograms, and dollars per unit
- Set requirements, margins, and verification plans; execute thermal test articles and correlate models to test
- Design for high-rate production. Solutions must be repeatable at takt
- Mentor engineers and establish thermal engineering practices on a fast-scaling program
Required qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Physics, or related field
- 8+ years in thermal engineering for aerospace, RF systems, or high-power-density electronics
- Spaceborne thermal design experience: vacuum, radiation heat transfer, flight hardware qualification
- Strong grasp of phased array thermal challenges: dense front-end integration, high areal power density, junction temperature and RF efficiency coupling
- Proficiency with thermal modeling tools (Thermal Desktop, SINDA/FLUINT, ANSYS Icepak, or equivalent), and judgment to know when hand calculation should bracket the model
- Working knowledge of materials, coatings, and interface technologies for space and outdoor terrestrial hardware
- Familiarity with environmental and qualification standards (NASA, ESA, MIL-STD or similar)
Preferred qualifications
- Master's or PhD in a related field
- Both space and terrestrial antenna systems, particularly electronically steered arrays
- Advanced techniques: phase change materials, heat pipes, vapor chambers, loop heat pipes, liquid cooling
- Board- and package-level thermal work: TIM characterization, BGA and lid paths, junction-to-case resistance
- Taking hardware from prototype into volume production, including cost and mass optimization at rate
- Transient thermal analysis coupled to operational planning
How you work
- Systems thinking across RF, silicon, structures, power, avionics, operations, and manufacturing
- Willing to state the real thermal limit early, when it constrains someone else's design
- Comfortable where requirements are still being written and your analysis is one of the inputs writing them
- Able to reduce a coupled physics problem to a decision a team can act on this week
- Clear communication with both deep technical peers and program leadership
Compensation and location
Base pay range for Washington applicants: $156,802.00 to $219,522.45. Other site ranges may differ.
Greater Seattle Area. On-site work expected.
Employment requirements
Applicants must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted as a refugee or granted asylum.
Background check required for all positions.