Thermal Engineer - TeraWave Verified today

About TeraWave

Blue Origin is developing TeraWave, a satellite communications network delivering symmetrical data speeds up to 6 Tbps globally. This role owns the thermal design of phased array antennas for both satellite payloads and ground user terminals.

Phased arrays present extreme thermal challenges: high power density across hundreds of packages in vacuum, with heat rejected only through conduction and radiation. Arrays operate in bursts, requiring fast absorption and rejection before the next pass. Junction temperature rise directly degrades RF efficiency and can cause thermal runaway. Thermal design is a first-order constraint, not a downstream check.

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, preload, interface materials, bondlines, heat pipes, spreaders, and thermal storage.
• Define duty-cycle and operational limits for the constellation, working with operations teams so thermal constraints surface as capacity decisions.
• Run architecture-level trades quantifying thermal, mass, and unit cost outcomes.
• Set requirements, margins, and verification plans; execute thermal test articles and correlate models to test.
• Design for high-rate production repeatability at takt.
• Mentor engineers and establish thermal engineering practice on a fast-scaling program.

Required qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Physics, or related field.
• 5+ years 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 to RF efficiency coupling.
• Proficiency with thermal modeling tools (Thermal Desktop, SINDA/FLUINT, ANSYS Icepak, or equivalent) and hand calculation judgment.
• 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 inputs them.
• Able to reduce coupled physics problems to decisions a team can act on this week.
• Clear communication with deep technical peers and program leadership.

Compensation

Base pay range for Washington applicants: $130,706.00 to $182,987.70. Other site ranges may differ.

Employment details

Applicants must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident, or lawfully admitted as a refugee or granted asylum. Background checks required.

Benefits include medical, dental, vision, life insurance, paid parental leave, short and long-term disability, 401(k) match up to 5%, education support, and stock options for regular employees. Up to four weeks paid time off annually and up to 14 company-paid holidays.