Shield AI
Staff Engineer, Aircraft Thermal Systems - Ranger (R6351)
$170K–$260K
Seattle, Washington · On-site · Staff · Full-time · Posted Oct 20, 2026
- Experience
- 7 to 12 years of direct experience in aerospace thermal engineering, environmental control systems, or vehicle thermal and fluid system development.
- Education
- B.S. or M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
About the job
Owns thermal analysis, design, integration, testing, and delivery of thermal systems and hardware for a Group 5 UAV fighter aircraft.
What you'll do
- Define aircraft thermal environments and design cooling solutions, including airflow, ducting, heat-rejection paths, and thermal interfaces.
- Develop and correlate analytical, finite-difference, and CFD models; plan and support qualification and verification testing.
- Integrate thermal hardware with vehicle systems and lead supplier execution through prototype build, test, and hardware delivery.
What they ask for
- U.S. citizenship and an active Secret or higher clearance.
- B.S. or M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
- Deep mastery of thermodynamics, heat transfer, and fluid dynamics applied to aircraft or defense systems.
- Experience with thermal-system design, modeling and analysis, CAD/PLM, and aerospace hardware and supplier execution.
Nice to have
- Experience with high-altitude aircraft thermal management and hands-on thermal/fluid testing, instrumentation, and validation.
- Knowledge of aerospace thermal materials and manufacturing, multidisciplinary integration, and environmental or airworthiness standards.
Pay
USD 170,000–260,000 per-year-salary (base salary)
Tools
CFD, FloEFD, STAR-CCM+, Thermal Desktop, Siemens NX, CATIA, Creo, SolidWorks
Model-written summary · the original posting is authoritative