Antares Nuclear
Senior Thermal Engineer - Space
$145K–$185K
Los Angeles · Senior · Full-time · Posted Oct 3, 2026
- Experience
- 5+ years; the posting lists thermal engineering, thermal analysis, heat transfer, spacecraft thermal systems, nuclear systems, high-temperature systems, or closely related hardware development as areas of experience.
- Education
- Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Nuclear Engineering, Thermal Sciences, or a related technical discipline.
- Visa sponsorship
- Applicant must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. lawful permanent resident, refugee, asylee, or eligible to obtain required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.
About the job
Owns thermal design and analysis for a space nuclear vehicle, including reactor heat transport, spacecraft thermal systems, and heat rejection, from early architecture through test-informed hardware design.
What you'll do
- Build, validate, and improve thermal models using experimental, analytical, and test data; quantify uncertainty and model fidelity.
- Develop and compare thermal management and heat rejection architectures, including coolant loops and radiator systems.
- Coordinate with engineering and test teams on thermal hardware integration, requirements, test plans, and design reviews.
What they ask for
- Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Nuclear Engineering, Thermal Sciences, or a related technical discipline.
- 5+ years of experience in thermal engineering, thermal analysis, heat transfer, spacecraft thermal systems, nuclear systems, high-temperature systems, or closely related hardware development.
- Strong fundamentals in conduction, convection, radiation, transient heat transfer, thermal-fluid systems, and system-level thermal modeling.
- Experience validating thermal models with test, experimental, or flight/hardware data, and performing design trades for cross-functional teams.
Nice to have
- Master’s degree or higher in a related field.
- Experience with spacecraft thermal systems, high-temperature or nuclear thermal systems, Python, Git-controlled repositories, or thermal simulation tools.
Pay
$145,000 - $185,000 USD base salary; $145K – $185K USD (compensation type not specified)
Tools
Python, Git, Thermal Desktop, SINDA/FLUINT, OpenTD, ANSYS, COMSOL, STAR-CCM+
Model-written summary · the original posting is authoritative