Thermal Protection System Lead

Application close date:

At Blue Origin, we envision millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth. We’re working to develop reusable, safe, and low-cost space vehicles and systems within a culture of safety, collaboration, and inclusion. Join our team of problem solvers as we add new chapters to the history of spaceflight! 

In this position, you will work directly with NASA as part of the Human Landing System (HLS) program. You will play a key role in developing the systems that will return humans to the Moon and extend human presence permanently beyond the bounds of Earth! We are looking for someone to apply their technical expertise, leadership skills, and dedication to quality to build the road to space. Passion for our mission and vision is required! 

We are looking for Engineers to be responsible for thermal components from conception, through internal or external development, testing, and integration with the vehicle.

You will be part of the Thermal Design and Analysis group, which works closely with the hardware delivery groups within Lunar Permanence. Inputs to your work will include mission timelines, environments, and design and construction standards. Outputs will include component specifications, test plan/execution/reports, occasional thermal analysis, short/long term development plans, and make/buy decisions.

Contribute to a team of Thermal Engineers and Analysts simultaneously developing groundbreaking lunar landers. We are looking for someone to apply their technical expertise, leadership skills, and commitment to quality to positively impact safe human spaceflight. Passion for our mission and vision is required!

• Responsible for leading the Thermal Protection System design including material selection, stack configuration, and analysis
• Own the delivery and quality of the TPS system design as well as delivery of the hardware solutions. 
• Lead the development of new materials or stacks as appropriate to meet thermal and mechanical requirements.
• Identify and/or develop flight implementation and installation approaches.
• Balance hardware design response against cost and schedule
• Perform trade studies and optimizations of solutions and collaborate with external subsystems on the trade offs
• Document design and analysis results and present at program gated reviews
• Communicate progress to leadership team via; program management reviews weekly/monthly, finance reviews, long term forecasting business plan, and project deep dives.

• Minimum of a B.S. degree in mechanical or aerospace engineering
• 8 year relevant Thermal Engineering experience
• Solid understanding of thermal fundamentals
• Familiarity with common materials used in thermal protection systems
• Demonstrated experience building and testing hardware in extreme environments
• Understanding of aerospace hardware verification and validation process

• M.S. or PhD degree in mechanical or aerospace engineering
• 12 years of relevant aerospace experience
• Solid understanding of high temperature material properties
• Familiarity with heritage reusable and ablative TPS designs
• Proven experience taking novel designs through NASA certification
• Experience solving a variety of thermal problems demonstrating breadth in application
• Vendor technical management experience
• Familiarity with Thermal Desktop and Sinda/Fluint, including model validation and test correlation

Base Pay Range for:

Don’t meet all desired requirements? Studies have shown that some people are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single desired qualification. At Blue Origin, we are dedicated to building an authentic workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every desired qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.