This role pays less than
55%
of similar roles. Most pay
$146,500–$194,300
— the shaded band above.
At the midpoint, this role pays about
$163k
versus about
$170k
for comparable roles.
Based on 240 similar postings.
Employer
About Anduril Industries
Anduril Industries is a defense technology company that builds advanced hardware and software systems for national security, including autonomous drones, surveillance systems, and the Lattice AI command platform.
Anduril Industries currently has
1716 open roles
on FindRole.
Listed pay typically runs
$146,000–$194,000
across 1511 roles with salary data.
Thermal Engineer, Thermal Protection Systems (TPS) joins the Thermal Engineering team to manage the design, analysis, and validation of thermal protection for hypersonic and high-speed flight systems in extreme aerothermal environments. The role involves owning material selection and thermal analysis for missiles, reentry systems, and advanced platforms while collaborating with aerodynamics and propulsion teams to balance mass and performance trade-offs. Key responsibilities include performing aerothermal heating analysis using CFD and boundary-layer methods, conducting ablation modeling to predict recession, and executing characterization tests like arcjet or furnace testing. Candidates must possess expertise in high-temperature materials such as carbon phenolic, PICA, and ceramics. Required technical skills include proficiency with material response codes like FIAT or TITAN, and experience with tools such as DPLR, ANSYS Fluent, MATLAB, or Python to solve critical thermal survival constraints for high-speed vehicles.
Own the design, material selection, and thermal analysis for hypersonic and high-speed flight systems.
Perform aerothermal heating analysis using engineering correlations, boundary-layer methods, and CFD to define flight environments.
Conduct ablation and material response modeling to predict structural margins under mission-representative conditions.
Select appropriate TPS materials based on aerothermal loads, mass constraints, and manufacturability.
Integrate thermal protection systems into vehicle designs while managing trade-offs in mass, volume, and performance.
Execute thermal and material characterization tests including arcjet, furnace, and instrumented flight-article testing.
Build and maintain thermal models ranging from hand calculations to detailed FEA/CFD for system qualification.
Lead technical reviews and root-cause investigations using test data and first-principles reasoning.
What we're looking for
MS or PhD in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Applied Physics, or a related field focusing on aerothermodynamics, heat transfer, thermal sciences, or materials science.
2+ years of experience in TPS design, aerothermal analysis, or high-temperature material response for aerospace or defense systems.
Strong first-principles understanding of aerodynamic heating, ablation, high-temperature heat transfer, and material thermal response.
Experience with material response modeling tools such as FIAT, CMA, TITAN, or equivalent ablation/thermal response codes.
Experience supporting thermal design for hypersonic vehicles, reentry systems, missiles, rocket nozzles, or other systems in extreme aerothermal environments.
Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Top Secret security clearance.
Experience with aerothermal CFD tools such as DPLR, US3D, Loci-CHEM, CFD++, ANSYS Fluent, or STAR-CCM+ (preferred).
Experience with arcjet testing, thermal characterization testing, or flight-article thermal instrumentation (preferred).