Thermal Associate Engineer (Fall 2026)

at Astranis

Location

San Francisco

Type

full time

Posted

Yesterday

Market range · function + seniority

$156k—$209k—$254k

p25 · target · p75 · n=800

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Job description

Astranis builds advanced satellites for high orbits, expanding humanity’s reach into the solar system. Today, Astranis satellites provide dedicated, secure networks to highly-sophisticated customers across the globe— large enterprises, sovereign governments, and the US military. With five satellites on orbit and many more set to launch soon, the company is servicing a backlog of more than $1 billion of 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 $750 million from some of the world’s best investors, from Andreessen Horowitz to Blackrock and Fidelity, and employs a team of 450 engineers and entrepreneurs. Astranis designs, builds, and operates its satellites out of its 153,000 sq. ft. headquarters in Northern California, USA.

Thermal Engineer Associate (Fall 2026)

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

As an Associate Engineer, you will have an amazing opportunity to work on hard problems — we pride ourselves on giving everyone at Astranis a chance to do meaningful work on complex projects, and our Associate Engineers work on projects that are of equal importance and difficulty to the projects we give our full-time employees. Many past Associate Engineers have designed and tested hardware/software that is heading to space on our first satellite, and many now work at Astranis full-time.

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

Role

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

Requirements

Have a four-year degree in mechanical, aerospace, or equivalent technical degree (e.g. physics or applied math)
A 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.
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 thermal analysis such as ANSYS and Thermal Desktop
Experience with electronics systems design and packaging
Experience (projects or previous internships) related to aerospace

The base salary for this position is $1,925 per week.

Base Salary

$1,925—$1,925 USD

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 our products are meant to connect the world and everyone in it, regardless of gender, race, creed, or any other distinction. We believe in a diverse and inclusive workplace, and we encourage all people to join our team and bring their unique perspective to help make us stronger.