Senior Thermal Engineer

Icarus was founded on the belief that the Stratosphere is the Forgotten Frontier and that reclaiming it will define the next era of aerospace and what is possible from the sky. We build solar-powered aircraft that fly at 60,000 ft for weeks at a time, delivering persistent, affordable, and scalable presence from this layer of the atmosphere. Mission Re-establish and maintain dominance in the Stratosphere. What you’ll do Own thermal design of the aircraft, from first-order sizing through validation against altitude chamber and flight data. Model at the fidelity the decision requires — hand calculations and 1-D networks early, CFD and FEA when warranted. Own battery thermal management: insulation, heater sizing, and cold-soak survival. This is the constraint that sets our endurance. Deliver thermal solutions for avionics, powertrain, and payloads against aggressive mass targets, and select the materials, coatings, and interfaces to get there. Quantify how temperature drives the power budget. Solar cell, battery, and motor efficiency all move with temperature, and your analysis feeds the energy balance that keeps the aircraft up. Define and run thermal testing: setups, instrumentation, procedures, and correlation of models to measured data. Work across structures, avionics, power, and manufacturing, and present thermal status at design and failure reviews. What we’re looking for 3+ years in thermal analysis or thermal design of flight, space, or high-reliability hardware, with a degree in mechanical, aerospace, or another engineering discipline. A thermal design you took from analysis through test and into flying hardware. Experience in low-convection environments where radiation dominates — spacecraft, high-altitude, or UAV. Strong 0-D and 1-D thermal network modeling, plus Thermal Desktop, ANSYS, Simcenter, or equivalent, and Python or MATLAB for tooling. Battery thermal management experience: pack-level modeling, heater strategies, and cold-soak survival. Hands-on test experience with thermal-vacuum or altitude chambers, instrumentation, and model correlation. Comfort working on the floor with hardware and technicians. Onsite in El Segundo; this role is not remote. A serious commitment to feedback and growth, and the drive to perform in a fast-paced, high-intensity environment. Why Icarus Meaningful equity Top market salary and bonuses Health, dental, and vision insurance Factory in El Segundo Real ownership, real hardware, real flight Small team, massive responsibility (but growing very fast) High signal (engineering) to noise (management) culture Dream desk setup Daily lunch Unlimited celsius This is not a normal engineering job We are pioneers, not corporate managers. Icarus deliberately optimizes for a high signal (engineers) to noise (management) ratio, where engineering, flight, and execution matter more than process, politics, or management overhead You will work side by side with the CEO and a small team of world-class builders. Y...