Senior Thermal Analyst (Fusion Energy)

Location: Denver, Colorado, United States; full-time onsite at the headquarters

Company

hirify.global develops inertial fusion energy systems using advanced laser architecture, fusion science, and advanced manufacturing.

What you will do

• Lead thermal and CFD analyses for cooling systems, gas-flow pathways, and fusion chamber components.
• Build steady-state and transient thermo-fluid models covering conduction, convection, radiation, turbulent flow, and compressible gas dynamics.
• Validate models through analytical methods, experimental data, and multiphysics correlations.
• Prepare traceable analysis documentation, participate in peer reviews, and maintain modeling and verification best practices.
• Collaborate with design engineers to integrate thermal results into component designs, architecture trades, and performance optimization.
• Support prototype builds and testing through thermal troubleshooting, root-cause investigations, test correlation, and workflow development.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Nuclear Engineering, or a related field.
• At least 8 years of thermal-fluid, CFD, or heat-transfer analysis experience supporting engineered hardware.
• Expert proficiency with commercial CFD tools such as STAR-CCM+ or Ansys Fluent, including CFD verification and validation.
• Experience with turbulent flow, compressible and incompressible fluids, convection and radiation heat transfer, and cooling system design.
• Strong classical heat-transfer and thermo-fluid fundamentals, including hand calculations and closed-form analysis methods.
• Must be a U.S. citizen or national, permanent resident, refugee, or granted asylum in the United States.

Nice to have

• Advanced degree in Mechanical, Aerospace, Nuclear Engineering, or a related field.
• Experience selecting or designing fans, pumps, heat exchangers, piping, or supporting equipment.
• Experience with multiphysics tools such as SimCenter, COMSOL, or Abaqus.
• Experience with high-temperature systems, pulsed heat deposition, gas lasers, or fusion thermal environments.
• Familiarity with engineering materials, manufacturing processes, cooling strategies, Python, MATLAB, VBA, NX, or Teamcenter.

Culture & Benefits

• Work in a fast-paced manufacturing environment supporting systems from concept through commissioning.
• Collaborate across fusion science, engineering analysis, design engineering, and advanced manufacturing.
• Support hardware development from prototypes through integrated testing.