Mechanical Engineer – Aerospace Thermal Management Systems (Integration & Packaging)
Location: Onsite – Irvine CA
Industry: Aerospace & Defense
Duration: 6 months and extendable
Role Overview
We are seeking two highly skilled Mechanical Engineers with experience in the Aerospace & Defense sector to support the development and integration of advanced thermal management subsystems used across military and commercial platforms globally.
This role focuses on mechanical subsystem development from a packaging and integration perspective, including enclosure design and integration of electronic and fluid control components such as pumps, compressors, fans, and valves. The ideal candidate has hands-on experience developing aerospace-grade subsystems within defined volume and interface constraints, ensuring high reliability, environmental robustness, and compliance with industry standards.
These roles will support programs progressing from Preliminary Design Review (PDR) toward Critical Design Review (CDR) and will involve reuse and adaptation of existing product architectures.
Key Responsibilities
- Design and develop mechanical enclosures for aerospace electronic and control subsystems such as thermal management systems and related subsystems
- Package and integrate COTS and custom components into customer-defined volume constraints by integrating components including pumps, compressors, fans, valves, and control electronics
- Develop detailed CAD models, assemblies, and manufacturing drawings (SolidWorks preferred)
- Conduct tolerance analysis, GD&T, stack-up analysis, and design for manufacturability (DFM)
- Support prototype builds, integration activities, testing, and validation
- Implement design considerations to satisfy and qualify the environmental requirements (shock, vibration, temperature, humidity, EMI/EMC interface considerations) per MIL standards.
- Collaborate with electrical, controls, thermal, structural, and systems engineering teams
- Participate in root cause analysis and design refinement
- Ensure compliance with aerospace and defense standards and documentation practices
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering or equivalent.
- 5+ years of experience in Aerospace & Defense mechanical subsystem development
- U.S. Citizen (No Dual Citizenship)
- Strong mechanical packaging and integration experience
- Experience designing enclosures housing electronics and fluid/mechanical components
- Exposure to thermal management systems (ECS, vapor cycle, or liquid cooling preferred but not mandatory)
- Working knowledge of rotating machinery components (fans, compressors, pumps)
- Proficiency in CAD tools (SolidWorks preferred; strong experience in other platforms acceptable)
- Experience with GD&T and tolerance analysis
- Familiarity with aerospace environmental standards (MIL-STD preferred)
- Experience supporting qualification and validation testing
- Strong understanding of materials selection for aerospace applications
- Ability to work in cross-functional engineering teams
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience packaging turbomachinery components within constrained aerospace envelopes
- Exposure to controls systems integration
- Knowledge of vibration isolation and shock mitigation techniques
- Experience supporting PDR/CDR processes
- Familiarity with configuration management and aerospace documentation rigor
- Exposure to FMEA, reliability analysis, and lifecycle support
