Principal Thermal Engineer - Aircraft Avionics & Thermal Systems (R3930)

Location: On-site in Seattle, Washington or San Diego, California, United States

Company

hirify.global develops AI and aircraft products for mission-critical aerospace applications.

What you will do

• Own thermal architecture, analysis, and design strategy for unmanned aerial vehicle avionics and aircraft-level thermal and fluid systems.
• Lead cross-functional trade studies balancing thermal performance with power, weight, volume, reliability, manufacturability, and aircraft integration.
• Develop and validate heat-transfer and fluid-flow models using hand calculations and CFD tools such as FloEFD.
• Define verification and validation strategies, including test planning, instrumentation, data analysis, and model correlation.
• Serve as a technical authority in design reviews, executive briefings, and customer discussions while resolving complex avionics, mechanical, and aircraft-system interfaces.
• Establish reusable thermal design methods, mentor engineers, and drive system-level risk reduction.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related discipline.
• At least 12 years of professional experience in avionics or electronics thermal engineering, including technical leadership of complex multidisciplinary systems.
• Strong expertise in heat transfer, fluid mechanics, active and passive cooling, and thermal management components such as TIMs, heat sinks, vapor chambers, heat pipes, and fans.
• Proficiency with thermal analysis and CFD tools such as ANSYS Icepak, FloEFD, or STAR-CCM+, plus CAD tools such as NX or SolidWorks.
• Experience owning thermal architectures and delivering solutions from concept through integration, verification, and validation.
• Strong communication, technical decision-making, mentoring, and cross-functional leadership skills; ability to obtain an S//SAR-level security clearance is desired.

Nice to have

• Master’s degree or Ph.D. in a relevant engineering discipline.
• Experience with high-altitude aircraft avionics cooling and aircraft thermal architecture.
• Hands-on experience with thermal and fluid-system testing, instrumentation, validation, and root-cause investigations.
• Knowledge of thermal-management materials and manufacturing methods, including pumps, heat exchangers, and composites.
• Experience with aerospace or defense proposals, trade studies, and customer technical representation.

Culture & Benefits

• Full-time employee position in a fast-paced startup environment.
• Mission-driven work involving AI and aircraft products.
• Collaboration across avionics, mechanical, electrical, PCBA, and aircraft engineering teams.