Thermal Associate Engineer

About Astranis

Astranis builds advanced satellites for high orbits, expanding humanity's reach into the solar system. Today, its satellites provide dedicated, secure networks to sophisticated customers worldwide, including large enterprises, sovereign governments, and the US military.

With five satellites on orbit and many more launching soon, the company is servicing a backlog of over $1 billion in commercial contracts. Astranis is the preferred satellite communications partner for buyers with stringent requirements for uptime, data security, network visibility, and customization.

Astranis has raised over $1.2 billion from top investors like Andreessen Horowitz, Baillie Gifford, Blackrock, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, and Snowpoint, and employs a team of 500 engineers and entrepreneurs. The company designs, builds, and operates its satellites from its 153,000 sq. ft. headquarters in Northern California.

Associate Engineer Program

Associate Engineer positions typically last twelve weeks and are salaried roles for students who have already received a bachelor's degree (or will have done so before starting at Astranis).

As an Associate Engineer, you will work on challenging problems. Astranis gives everyone the chance to do meaningful work on complex projects, and Associate Engineers work on projects of equal importance and difficulty as those given to full-time employees. Many past Associate Engineers have designed and tested hardware and software that is heading to space on the company's first satellite, and many now work at Astranis full-time.

If you are still a college student, please apply to join as an Intern.

Role

• Work with the engineering team to design, analyze, build, and test satellite hardware and/or software.
• Support design trades that balance performance margins, resource use, risk, cost, and schedule.
• Perform thermal analysis at varying levels of fidelity (simplified to detailed) on hardware such as propulsion components, batteries, high-powered electronics, RF components, mechanisms, and printed circuit boards (PCBs).
• Design, evaluate, procure, and test thermal solutions including heaters, heat pipes, thermal interface materials, and surface coatings.
• Develop integration and assembly processes and procedures to ensure thermal design intent is met. Collaborate with the integration and test team on thermal hardware installation as needed.
• Plan and run thermal vacuum testing and verification at the component and spacecraft level.

Requirements

• Four-year degree in mechanical, aerospace, or equivalent technical degree (e.g., physics or applied math).
• Passion and enthusiasm for hardware development, including working in a fast-paced environment and hands-on design and development.
• Demonstrated ability to personally design, build, and test hardware from scratch.
• US Citizenship or Green Card.
• Don't meet them all? Not a problem. Please apply even if you do not meet all these criteria.

Bonus

• Experience with CAD.
• Experience with analytical software for thermal analysis such as ANSYS and Thermal Desktop.
• Experience with electronics systems design and packaging.
• Experience (projects or previous internships) related to aerospace.

U.S. Citizenship, Lawful Permanent Residency, or Refugee/Asylee Status Required (to comply with U.S. Government space technology export regulations, applicant must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the United States, or other protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3)).

Our mission and products are built for everyone, regardless of gender, race, creed, or background. We believe in a diverse and inclusive workplace and invite all people to join our team and bring their unique perspectives to make us stronger.