What you'll do:
- Contribute to thermal analysis and design efforts for unmanned aerial vehicle avionics and thermal/fluid systems.
- Build and validate analytical, numerical, and computational models for heat transfer and fluid flow using hand calculations and CFD tools such as FloEFD.
- Participate in trade studies, system architecture reviews, and risk assessments.
- Support test planning, instrumentation, and data analysis to correlate models with experimental results.
- Collaborate with cross-disciplinary teams in applying thermal/fluid fundamentals.
- Communicate technical findings through design reviews, reports, and team discussions.
- Proactively identify technical issues and propose solutions in coordination with senior engineers.
Required qualifications:
- B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or related discipline.
- Minimum 5 years of professional experience in avionics or electronics thermal engineering.
- Strong knowledge of heat transfer (conduction, convection, radiation) and fluid mechanics.
- Familiarity with thermal management design elements including TIMs, spreaders, heat sinks, vapor chambers, heat pipes, and fans.
- Proficiency with thermal analysis and CFD tools (e.g., ANSYS Icepak, FloEFD, STAR-CCM+).
- Proficiency with CAD design tools such as NX, SolidWorks, or similar.
- Ability to apply first-principles reasoning to engineering problems.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills.
Preferred qualifications:
- M.S. in a relevant engineering discipline.
- Experience with aircraft avionics cooling and thermal design.
- Familiarity with aircraft integration constraints (power, weight, volume, maintainability, safety).
- Hands-on experience with thermal and fluid system testing and validation.
- Knowledge of materials and manufacturing methods relevant to thermal management.
Top Skills
What We Do
Founded in 2015, Shield AI is a venture-backed defense technology company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its products include the V-BAT aircraft, Hivemind Enterprise, and the Hivemind Vision product lines. With offices in San Diego, Dallas, Washington, D.C., Boston, Abu Dhabi (UAE), Kyiv (Ukraine), and Melbourne (Australia), Shield AI’s technology actively supports U.S. and allied operations worldwide.
Why Work With Us
What makes Shield AI special is our people. We unlock the power of autonomy, and in the face of overwhelming odds and challenges, we find ways to win and make a difference for our customers. We bring together software, AI, and aerospace engineering disciplines to deploy the most intelligent aviation capabilities in the world.
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