Staff Thermal Control Systems Engineer (Aerospace)

Location: Hawthorne, California; fully remote workplace

Salary: $190,000–$220,000 per year

Company

Astrolab designs and builds lunar exploration systems and hardware, including rovers, power systems, and data networks for sustained operations on the Moon.

What you will do

• Define thermal control system requirements with vehicle and subsystem stakeholders.
• Design, develop, tune, verify, and validate vehicle thermal control system performance.
• Build simulation and modeling tools for thermal control system design, analysis, and tuning.
• Design and prototype controllers, then analyze their performance, stability, and robustness using simulations and TVAC test data.
• Size and position thermal control components, including RTDs, heaters, and radiators.
• Document control systems, support conversion of prototypes into flight code, and assist with sensor calibration, unit testing, and integrated hardware/software testing.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in a STEM-related field.
• 10+ years of experience analyzing, designing, developing, verifying, and validating thermal control systems for space vehicles.
• Experience building, testing, and validating thermal control simulation and analysis tools for space vehicles.
• Experience with spacecraft thermal modeling, thermal control system design tools, and control systems analysis.
• Experience with Thermal Desktop and MATLAB Control System Toolbox is preferred.

Nice to have

• Experience optimizing thermal control authority, power and energy consumption, system observability, and control system complexity.
• Experience sizing and optimally positioning sensors, heaters, radiators, and other thermal control elements.
• Experience testing control systems on flight-like hardware and creating test plans for relevant environments.
• Experience designing thermal control for complex systems such as robotic arms and optical sensors.

Culture & Benefits

• Fully remote workplace with a focus on direct, honest, respectful collaboration.
• Equity ownership in the company.
• Medical, dental, vision, and mental health benefits.
• 401(k) plan with company match.
• Flexible PTO and parental leave.
• Lunch stipend, on-site snacks and beverages, and a monthly on-site social hour.

Hiring process

• Application review followed by a recruiter phone interview.
• Video interviews.
• On-site interview, offer, and hiring.